Innocent Explorations
by NickieButterfly
Summary: When Hermione and Draco find themselves stuck with only each other for company for four whole weeks at a summer potions internship, they form a tenuous truce that soon sees them learning more anatomy than potions. Rated for a reason. Two different endings. Sequels to follow.
1. Prolouge

_AN/ This Plunnie came to me after reading Educating Draco - "_ _Hermione was surprised at how innocent all of this actually felt. It oddly reminded her of when she had been seven years old and one day out of curiosity, she and her cousin Bobby had agreed to show each other their reproductive parts. Granted, she wasn't seven anymore, Draco wasn't her cousin and they weren't just looking (not anymore at least), but still... it didn't exactly feel at all as sexual as Hermione thought it would feel."_

 _The whole innocence of their entire encounter really struck me and reminded me of Wendla in Spring Awakening (the musical not the book where Melchior rapes her), Sue and Woody's agreement in Puberty Blues season 2, and stories of girls who "practice" kissing with each other before they have boyfriends. But Draco and Hermione being eighteen jarred me. Especially Hermione having only just started to notice her sexual urges. So I wanted to write something with the same overall sense of innocent exploration, but set at an age where their innocence was more all encompassing like Wendla. This is set the summer between 3rd and 4th year, making Hermione a few months shy of 15 and Draco just 14. So fair warning - this contains underage sexual activity._

 _Also they have special exemption from the underage magic ban whilst they are part of the summer program._

Prologue

"Miss Granger, thank you for coming to see me, please have a seat"

Professor McGonagall gestured towards one of the straight backed chairs that graced her office. Hermione took a cautious seat, anxiety rippling off her as she tried desperately to hold back tears, racking her brain for what she could possibly have done to be called to see the deputy.

When she was seated the Professor continued. "How do you enjoy Potions Miss Granger?" the professor asked mildly.

"Uh, Potions. Um I… I…." Hermione stammered thrown by the seemingly benign question. Only maybe it wasn't benign, it was no secret that Professor Snape seemed to detest her, what if he had accused her of cheating or something equally horrid. Hermione began to tremble.

"Calm down child" McGonagall interjected kindly, "you are not in any trouble, nor will anything you say be repeated to Professor Snape"

"I'm, I'm not in trouble?" Hermione queried hopefully.

"No my dear, whatever gave you that idea?"

"Oh" Hermione replied somewhat shocked, "um then, ok. _Breathe Hermione, breathe"_ she added uttering the last bit under her breath.

Professor McGonagall gave the girl a few moments to collect herself before asking again. "So how do you enjoy potions Miss Granger?"

"I really like the work, I love it actually, it's just…" she trailed off unsure how what she wanted to say would be received.

"Yes" the professor prompted

"Um, well, Professor Snape…...I don't, I don't think he likes me very much, and he never calls on me or seems to think i've done a good job." Hermione gushed into her lap, afraid to look a teacher in the eye whilst complaining about another teacher.

"I see." McGonagall replied revealing nothing. "Do you think that has an impact on your ability to perform in class?" she continued.

Hermione bit her lip in concentration, thinking her answer though. Eventually she nodded. "When I've made potions outside of class, I find I am able to enjoy it a lot more, I don't feel like I have to prove myself so much, and I'm able to do much more difficult work."

"How much more more difficult?" the professor asked with restrained interest, though of course she knew the answer.

Hermione was once again panicking slightly on the inside, she had broken into Snape's store cupboard for the ingredients after all. She decided she'd better be vague in her response. "N.E.W.T. level, and beyond" she replied meekly.

"And how long have you been capable of producing such advanced potions?"

"Uh, um. Second Year" Hermione squeaked.

"I see" the professor replied placing her steepled fingers against her lips to hide her smile.

"I would like to nominate you for this" the Professor continued, pushing a sheet of parchment across the desk towards Hermione.

Hermione picked it up and read over it her eyes lighting up as she scanned the contents. 'This' was a summer school placement studying potions under the tutelage of the esteemed potioneer Damocles Belby, inventor of the Wolfsbane potion. One Hogwarts third year student was chosen each year by the Hogwarts Alumni. "Oh yes. Please" Hermione replied nodding furiously.

"Excellent. You may go Miss Granger." The Professor said retrieving the paperwork and beginning to fill it in.

Hermione left the office in a daze daydreaming about everything she could learn at such a program.


	2. Part 1

"What are _you_ doing here?" the two voices demanded in unison, staring hatefully at each other in the foyer of the Belby Potions Institute office.

"Ah, you have arrived" an adult voice interrupted walking into the foyer, "Miss Granger, Master Malfoy, I am Damocles Belby, welcome."

The two teenagers shot each other one final glare before turning to face their host, pleasant smiles and manners firmly in place, they each shook his hand.

"Come now, I shall give you a tour of the facilities before dinner" Mr Belby said, walking at a brisk pace leaving Hermione and Malfoy rushing to keep up.

After showing them around the offices, potions labs, store cupboards, potions library, greenhouses and testing labs Mr Belby ushered them to a door that at the left hand side of the foyer.

"This door connects to the living quarters, I will need to add you both to the wards for you to be able to go through it. Miss Granger if you would please place your wand tip up against the handle like so" Hermione did as asked, and Belby performed a series of incantations and wand movements, which culminated in Hermione feeling a rush of magical energy overtake her.

"Excellent, now Master Malfoy" the man said gesturing for the teens to swap. When the spells were complete he lead them through the doorway into a second foyer, this one more homely than the sleek businesslike decor and marble finishing of the one the had just left. The second part of their tour included the kitchen, breakfast and dining rooms, two sitting rooms, one of which they were informed was specifically for their use, the gardens, powder rooms and a large library

"I don't normally take two Hogwarts students," Belby said, mid-tour "Normally I take one domestic student and one from an international school. But both of your applications were simply outstanding and I just couldn't choose." He looked at the pair with a kind smile, " I expect that will prove to be a blessing for you, as I do know that the young people who come on this program often find it to be a tad lonely." he continued before turning back to face the direction of travel oblivious to the murderous looks his students were exchanging behind his back.

"Ah, here we are" he exclaimed. "Your bedrooms. Miss Granger on the left, Master Malfoy on the right, there is a bathroom connecting the two. You should find your luggage already inside, I shall leave you two get settled in, and I will come to collect you at quarter to six for the introductory dinner." With that he waved them a cheery goodbye and set off down the hall humming.

Hermione and Draco glared at each other once, then turned promptly, noses in the air and stomped into their respective rooms. Hermione was sure she heard Malfoy uttering " _my father will hear about this_ " under his breath.

As she stepped into her new room her stress at having to spend the summer in such close quarters melted away. The room was large and beautifully calm, decorated in french renaissance style. It sported a double bed, dressing table, dresser and armoire, all in white tones, with a crystal chandelier. Light blue tones in the linnen and the on the walls gave it just enough colour. There was a huge bay window with built in window seat, which overlooked the gardens at the rear of the house. It was restful and beautiful and Hermione felt like she'd stepped into a fairy tale. Excited she ran over to the bed and flopped down on top of the squashy duvet spreading her body out in appreciation. Checking her watch she saw that she had plenty of time before she needed to get ready for dinner and decided to write in her journal for a time before having a bath.

Forty minutes later a much more relaxed Hermione wandered into the bathroom humming, she was so absorbed in her own world that she didn't notice the sound of the shower running until it was too late. There in front of her outlined in candlelight was the shape of a very naked and very wet Draco Malfoy rubbing shower gel all over his back. _Oh my god_ Hermione thought before covering her eyes and running from the room in mortification. _At least he didn't see me_ , she reasoned with herself as she reached the safety of her own room where she busied herself with unpacking, trying to blot the image from her mind. Eventually she ran out of things to busy herself with and noting the time realised she really did need to get ready, but still afraid to go into the bathroom she decided to leave her bath plans for after dinner.

Draco was seething when he first stepped into his room. The application form had said that only one candidate would be chosen, yet here Granger was. Stealing his glory _again_. Father would be irate, unfortunately Draco wasn't entirely sure that his father's anger wouldn't be directed at him for once again being beaten by a mudblood. Gods his father could go on about that. Draco didn't see what the big deal was, Granger was clearly a swot with no life outside of school, but no, according to his father he and all his housemates were a disgrace to the wizarding world for being beaten by a muggle-born. _Maybe I shouldn't complain to father_ , Draco rationalised as he flopped onto the large black leather bed. He didn't really feel like getting yelled at again, and right now his father was actually proud of him for once. _What he doesn't know won't hurt him_ Draco decided and promptly summoned a quidditch magazine and settled in to read before getting ready for dinner.

At a twenty to six he exited his room dressed in tailored black dress robes, and leaned against the wall waiting for Granger and Belby. The later arrived first but just as he reached Draco the door to Granger's room opened and she stepped out. Draco's jaw dropped. Where was the bushy-haired beaver-toothed bookworm he liked to torment? Surely this was not the same girl. The girl in front of him had soft looking wavy hair, side parted and piled up in a soft bun with large white flower adorning the side. Rather than being unfortunate looking and ugly, she had a pretty lightly freckled face accented by just a touch of makeup and pearl earrings. Her muggle dress was a deep plum polka dotted affair, slim fitting and nipped in at the waist with a black bow. Some frilly overhangs gave the illusion of much more developed hips. Similar ruffles across the bust line and two inch satin heels added to the overall feel of a woman in the making rather than the dowdy girl Draco had always seen. Draco just stood there gaping and blinking for a few minutes whilst Granger and Belby made small talk, suddenly he realised they were both looking at him expectantly. "Huh?" he uttered confused as he had not been paying an ounce of attention and instead had been trying to figure out if Granger had taken some sort of beauty potion.

"Are you ready to go down to dinner Master Malfoy?" Belby repeated with a suspiciously knowing glint to his eye.

"Oh, right, of course, yes. Lead on."

The dinner was a formal affair, Draco expected Granger to find herself out of her depth, his father was always telling him that muggles and muggle borns lived in hovels after all, but he was shocked for a second time when she negotiated every fork and course with clearly practiced ease. He kept watching throughout the meal waiting for her to stumble or come undone whislt conversing with one of the members of the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers who were attending the dinner, but it never happened.

Draco found himself sleepwalking through much of the dinner, falling back on thirteen years of social training to make sure he said and did the right things at the right time, but his mind was whirling with confusion trying to fit this new image of Granger into the mental picture he had built of her over the past three years. By the time he went to bed his brain felt fried.

After the dinner, Hermione not quite ready to relinquish her finery decided to take a walk through the grounds. The gardens were lit up with fairy lights and as she wandered through the rose gardens she felt a little like Belle in that new Disney movie that had come out last year (which she had secretly fallen in love with and seen four times even if it was meant for children). _I've even got my very own beast_ _in reverse_ she thought with a giggle, _handsome on the outside but beastly on the inside._ Laughing at her mental joke Hermione slowly made her way back through the gardens towards the back of the house, where she could see the beastly boy in question silhouetted in the light of his own bedrooms full length window.

"Merlin's beard" she gasped as the silhouette lifted his robes over his head and threw them towards the floor. For the second time in only hours Hermione found herself accidentally staring at the outline of his (mostly) naked body. _Is this summer going to just consist of me catching Malfoy in his pants constantly!_ She thought before hurrying back into the house.

When she reached her bedroom she cautiously approached the door of the shared bathroom listening for the sounds of anyone inside. She couldn't hear anything, but knocked loudly and called out just to be safe. When after a minute of knocking there was no reply she decided it was safe and entered the room.

"Oh" she gasped as she got her first good look at the room.

The bathroom was made of white marble, It had two long vanity benches running along the side walls with individual toilet cubicles at opposing ends. Next to Hermione was a recessed alcove with a huge claw foot bath that could be partitioned off with gauzy curtains. Directly opposite was the shower, in a matching alcove. She could see it had multiple shower heads including a waterfall one and was large enough you could probably fit four people inside. The shower was closed off with frameless glass.

In the center of the room was a large gold and cream footed ottoman, with fluffy towels and a dressing gown laid out in one corner. Another large chandelier lit the room. As she wandered the room she noticed that there were little alcoves filled with beautiful looking toiletries as well as flowers and herbs that could be used to scent the bath. Hermione let out a deliriously happy sigh as she spun around, head thrown back and arms out basking in the full glory of how content and lucky she felt right now in a beautiful dress with her exquisite room and _this bathroom_ , still smelling the scent of the roses from the magical garden below.

When the bath was full of bubbles and the lights dimmed Hermione slipped into the water, letting her hair float out behind her as she luxuriated. Before long her mind had drifted, replaying the day's events, trying to store as many happy memories as possible, and in the low light of the steamy bathroom her eyes kept coming back to the shower, her brain completing the picture with the image of Malfoy's naked back. _And his bum_ a small voice whimpered in her head. " _Shut up"_ she hissed aloud. It's Malfoy, his bum is off limits. _Even if it just begged you to touch it all covered in water and bubbles?_ The voice mocked "Yes" she snarled. "Even then." She tried to force herself to think of something else, anything else, but her mind kept coming back to Malfoy's silhouette outlined against the glass of the shower or his window, and to Hermione's mortification her body was responding.

Hermione was not out of touch with her developing body or sexual desires. As the oldest girl in the grade she had turned twelve only two week into first year, whilst someone like Ginny was only barely eleven when she started. Sometime around Easter of first year Hermione had started to notice a certain amount of boy craziness taking over, though she would never admit to that. She'd started to wonder what it would be like to be kissed, and touched, finding herself having both night and day dreams about particular boys, Dean, Terry Boot, a Ravenclaw the year above, Ron's brother Charlie after the whole Norbert incident… One day on waking from a dream where she had been kissing Mr Ravenclaw she'd felt a strange urge to stick something inside herself. Over the next few weeks the urge just kept coming back, and eventually one night when Parvati and Lavender had detention, she'd given in and slowly inserted the handle of her wand into her vagina. She'd been shocked at how it had made her feel, accidentally bringing herself to her first orgasam. Confused and slightly mortified she had spent the Easter holidays frantically scouring the library near her parents house for information. The third night of the holidays she finally found her answer in the "your questions asked" pages of Mizz magazine.

" _Dear Mizz Doctor, sometimes when i'm playing with my little sister and her barbies I get this urge to put them inside myself. What's wrong with me?_ " the reader asked. It was there in the glossy pages of a teen magazine that Hermione learnt that what she had done was called masturbation and that the way it had made her feel was actually a perfectly normal. Armed with a basic definition Hermione's library searches became far more successful and through reading everything from teen mags to Judy Blume and Feminist tomes, that holidays she got a full theoretical education on female sexuality. Once she was satisfied that her responses and feelings were not just normal, but that by exploring them and getting to know her body, and her likes and dislikes she was empowering herself as a woman, Hermione had begun to experiment. She'd even examined herself in a mirror both to get a real life reference for the anatomical diagrams and pictures she saw in her research, and to see what happened down there when she touched herself in different ways. For science of course.

But right now in the bath, Hermione was mortified, because Draco Malfoy was the boy her body was reacting too. And if she was really honest with herself she was dreaming about what it would feel like to touch his soapy wet bum. "Mhhhh!" she squeaked in horror squeezing her eyes shut and sinking under the water, as her hand snaked down between her legs. _No one ever has to know_ the voice taunted, _It's just fantasy._ Whimpering in embarrassment Hermione let out a shaky sigh and gave in to her body, praying to every deity she could think of the Harry and Ron never found out she was having sexual thoughts about Malfoy.

Draco couldn't sleep. He needed to pee. Stumbling sleepily towards the bathroom he came up short when upon reaching for the door handle he heard a moan. Just as he was about to assume he was hearing things, and open the door, another moan sounded, followed by a "oh" that caused a sudden jolt of energy to surge through his groin. "What the hell?" he muttered to himself. Shrugging he pounded on the door. "Anyone in there? I need the loo" he called. He pressed his ear against the door and heard something that caught him by surprise for the third time that night, Granger swearing.

"Shit" he heard her yelp. "Um just a minute!" she called in a panicked sounding voice. He could hear water splashing and fabric rustling before Granger's voice called out again. "Ok, you can come in."

He sauntered inside to find her dressed in a robe, her hair dripping on to the floor, attempting to look like she was just casually brushing her teeth, despite the large amount of water splashed on the floor near the bath, which was still full. Raising one brow questioningly, Draco walked to the cubicle opposite, took a leak, washed his hands and left. As soon as he shut the door though he cast a eavesdropping spell on it. Granger sighed loudly, then seemed to have trouble breathing for a bit. She was talking to herself, clearly trying to calm herself down.

"It's allright, he didn't see, he doesn't know"

 _Oh now that's interesting, what don't I know_ Draco thought.

"Nobody ever has to know it was him, okay. Okay. breathe. He's gone, and he's not likely to come back now, so you're safe." He heard the water splash and assumed that she'd gotten back into the bath. He waited for a few minutes hearing nothing but gentle splashing, and was about to give up on wondering what it was that had her so panicked, when he heard a sharp intake of breath, followed by another moan and a breathy "yeeessss". _What the fuck?_ He questioned as once again the noises from the other side of the door caused an instant reaction in his pants. _What on earth is she doing?_ The moans and gasps continued building quickly in speed and pitch, and accompanied by whimpers, swear words and more drawn out yes'. Suddenly it hit Draco what she sounded like, she sounded like the women in that Muggle porn video that Blaise had shown all the guys one time.

"Sweet Salazar!" he gulped _she's getting herself off! Do girls do that? I didn't know girls did that._

And for the fourth time that day Draco was utterly gobsmacked and forced to question everything he thought he knew about Hermione Granger.

Breakfast was awkward. Draco had spent the night tossing and turning plagued by dreams that involved Hermione Granger's face stuck on the writhing wet body of a muggle porn star, then mocking him, taunting " _everything you thought you knew about me is wrong"_. Now he found he couldn't look at her without panicking, but at the same time his eyes kept being drawn back to her. She was just sitting there calmly, in a pair of loose jeans, high top trainers and a wide shouldered bright blue t-shirt. Her hair was in a messy ponytail held back with some horrid scrunched up piece of fabric in the same colour as her shirt. She looked like regular Granger, nothing like the Veela-slash-sex goddess that had seemed to possess her body last night, and it was throwing Draco for a major loop.

The rest of the day didn't get much better, and Draco found himself constantly struggling to keep up in their first day of studies. _Get it together man_ , he lectured himself _You were wrong, it's time to just accept it and move on, before you blow your cauldron up like bloody Finnegan._

Hermione was impressed. It was lunchtime, and apart from sending her strange looks, which he'd been doing pretty much since they arrived, Malfoy hadn't done or said anything to tease her or try to sabotage her work. She could almost forget he was there if it wasn't for the looks.

At the end of lunch Mr Belby informed them that their afternoon session would be with one of his junior colleagues Katherine Elion. As the pair entered Miss Elion's lab they were greeted by a dark haired young woman in a white coat, who looked about the same age as Charlie Weasley.

"Hi i'm Kate" she said in a bubbly voice tinted with a Southern american accent. "come on in and let's get cracking."

Hermione surveyed the room with interest on the walls was a Periodic table and posters of women scientists, _muggle_ women scientists. "Is that Sally Ride?" Hermione asked pointing to a muggle photograph of a young girl posing with a woman in NASA overalls.

"Indeed it is, and that" Kate replied pointing to the little girl, "is me."

"Cool" Hermione breathed.

"Who's Sally Ride" Malfoy drawled coming up behind.

"First American woman in Space" Kate replied.

"Space?"

"Yes Space, you know out in the stars and planets." Kate said waving her hand in the general direction of the sky.

"No one's been to space" Malfoy scoffed dismissively.

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to Kate, "don't mind him, he's a pureblood."

"Well Mister Malfoy, looks like you've got a lot of catching up to do if you're going to keep up in this lab." Kate said with a teasing laugh.

"Why?" he asked narrowing his eyes.

"Because in this lab we are working on projects that integrate muggle chemistry with potions. It seems Miss Granger's background gives her a bit of a head start." Kate replied "come I'll show you how to use the muggle equipment."

As Kate walked off, Hermione shot Malfoy a smug smirk. Finally being a muggle born was going to put her ahead of the game.

_

Draco stalked toward the benches muttering angrily under his breath, _bloody Granger, thinks she's so good. I'll show her! How hard can their muggle stuff be?_ Very hard it turned out. First he scorched his eyebrow trying to light the bunsen burner, and then there was that Table thing with its letters that only sometimes related to the name of the element, when Kate started prattling on about atomic numbers Draco gave up. He was going to have to hit the library later and do some serious catching up, because by the way Granger was nodding along and answering questions she clearly knew what American lady was talking about.

_

Hermione was struggling a bit too to be honest,but there was no way she was going to let Malfoy know that. For all he knew she was a Chemistry prodigy. No need to tell him that muggles didn't cover chemistry in primary school, and that as much as she tried to keep up with what she would be studying in muggle secondary school, she only managed a fairly cursory knowledge in each of the core subject areas. Sure she knew what a periodic table was, and knew some of the more common elements, but this atomic weight bit was starting to go a bit over her head too. _Oh well,_ she thought. _It's not like i've got anything else to do tonight but study anyway._

By the end of the lab session Hermione and Draco were both in desperate need of a break. Thankfully they were to go to the greenhouses next, which gave them a chance to get some fresh air into their fried brains. Both happy to be back in familiar territory, they blitzed through the ingredient collection tasks they were given and headed back to the store cupboards where they were to dry, pickle, stew and stasis the various ingredients for later use.

Kate joined them for dinner, a much more casual gathering of some of the potioneers that worked at the institute. Kate smiled at Hermione when she arrived and gestured for the young witch to take the seat next to her. Malfoy thankfully took a seat at the other end of the table, which allowed Hermione to confess her secret to Kate.

"um Kate, would you perhaps be able to go through the chemisty things we covered today again tomorrow? I've got some books to read but, well it's a lot to catch up on in one night."

"You were struggling?" Kate asked genuinely surprised. "I'm sorry I just assumed by your nodding that you were following along, and that you'd be able to help Malfoy there with anything he didn't get until he catches on. Why didn't you say something earlier?"

Hermione blushed. "Uh, well, honestly, I didn't want Malfoy to know that I was lost. He and his friends are always laughing at the muggle-borns when they don't know something because they didn't grow up with magic, I kind of wanted him to see what it was like to be behind because of your birth." she admitted sheepishly.

Kate laughed. "I see. And now you'll study yourself silly trying to keep one step ahead, am I right?"

"Yes" Hermione squeaked. "I know, it was a dumb plan" she moaned, "but it seemed like such a great idea at the time."

The rest of the first week both Hermione and Draco spent the majority of their spare time trying desperately to catch up on muggle chemistry, and they were both glad for the respite of the weekend. Even if there was nothing to do and no one to talk to but each-other. The pair had fallen into an unspoken truce, and found they worked together surprisingly well. But other than small talk at meals and potions talk during their lab sessions, the pair had not needed to to test the strength of their truce. Now they found themselves faced with two whole days with no work and only each-other to talk to.

On friday evening, Hermione poked her head in the sitting room and saw Malfoy reading a magazine. letting out a sigh, she traipsed off to the kitchen in search of Butterbeer and snacks. A peace offering of sorts. When she returned to the sitting room she placed a butterbeer and a bowl of crisps on the side table next to Malfoy, then crossed to the other side of the room and sat down summoning one of the novels she'd found in the library earlier.

"What's this?" a sharp voice questioned as she cracked open the book.

"A snack" she replied trying desperately to tap down on the sarcasm and contempt.

"I can see that, but why did you bring it to me?"

Hermione shrugged. "Thought you might want one."

He looked at her suspiciously. And Hermione sighed. "Look Malfoy, It's friday, we're stuck with each other and not much to do for two days, can't we just call a truce or something. We'll have a lot more fun that way, it's a bit hard to play exploding snap and board games by yourself" she said gesturing to the wall filled with games.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes even further. "Alright." he replied, just as Hermione was about to give up and return to her book.

"All-alright?"

"Yes, alright." he said as he stood up, grabbed his snacks and walked over to the table laid out with a chess set. "But we're not playing exploding snap. You've got black." he added with a nod to the board.

 _Woah_ Hermione thought, _that was easy._ Deciding she shouldn't look a gift Hippogriff in the mouth, Hermione grabbed her own drink and joined him at the chess table.

Three rounds later Draco was jubilant to have finally found something other than flying that he was better at than Granger. "You suck at chess" he taunted, though his voice lacked the usual bite.

Granger surprised him by sighing ruefully. "Yeah, I really do don't I? No matter how much Ron tries to teach me strategy I just don't get any better"

"Weasel plays chess?" Draco asked incredulous.

"Yes" Granger replied a bit snippily. "Ron is fantastic at chess, he beat McGonagall's giant chess game when we found the Philosopher's stone in first year, and he's even beaten Dumbledore a couple of times." she added defensively.

"Huh" Draco replied. "What do you know, there is a brain under all that ginger after all."

Granger shot him a angry smirk. "Alright, alright, I won't insult your friends" he sighed rolling his eyes. "Your choice" he said pointing to the wall.

Granger stood and surveyed the games on offer, when she reached the third shelf she let out a laugh, "I loved this game when I was a kid, mouse trap it is." she said pulling a brightly coloured box off the shelf.

Draco eyed it warily.

"I know, it's kinda stupid, and juvenile, but it's fun." Granger said shooting him her don't even think about contradicting me look.

"I didn't say anything" Draco replied holding up his hands in surrender.

The game _was_ fun. Silly and childish, but fun. And even more surprisingly Draco found he was having fun playing it with Granger. She prattled on with long winded stories about playing it and other games with her parents and cousins and the kids in her street, and Draco was shocked to find that he was actually paying attention. When Pansy or one of the other Slytherin girls prattled on like that he just shut them out. But her stories were surprisingly funny, and full of information about muggle life. Information that contrasted strongly with everything he'd been taught.

Deciding to analyse that aspect later, Draco saw a gap in the conversation and decided to ask a question. "So what kind of games do muggles our age play?"

Granger blushed.

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Uh, well. My cousin Stacey says that the most popular game at parties she goes to is seven minutes in heaven"

"What's seven minutes in heaven?"

The blush deepened, "Well when it's your turn you select a partner at random by drawing names from a hat, and then you and your partner get shut in a coatroom for seven minutes…."

"That's it? What's the point?" He replied confused.

"Uh, well it's called seven minutes in heaven because most people use that time to make out."

Draco's eyebrows raised _Damn, I need to introduce this game to Slytherin house_ he thought.

"Huh" he said out loud trying to act nonchalantly.

"Muggle teenagers seem to be a bit obsessed with those kinds of games." Granger replied with a shake of her head, "it's like they're all hopped up on lust potions or something" she added rolling her eyes.

"Why what other games do they play?"

"Spin the bottle, Never have I ever, Truth or Dare, Strip Poker, Suck and Blow…."

"Suck and Blow?" Draco gasped wide eyed. He wasn't sure what it involved, but considering the game she'd just described and that name…. Well he had ideas.

"Yeah"

Draco just gaped at her. After a minute her expression showed sudden comprehension.

"Oh, no, not that" she laughed, "though apparently people do that in seven minutes… but in suck and blow you have a playing card and a line of people and you have to pass the card from one end to the other, only using your mouths. To transfer the card the receiver has to suck, whist the giver blows and Merlin that still sounds so dirty doesn't it" she gulped running a hand through her now loose hair as Draco erupted into scoffing snorts.

"Oh it so does" he laughed, and Granger started laughing along with him.

Later that night as Draco was trying to sleep it occurred to him that maybe girls getting themselves off was a muggle thing. If they spent their parties snogging randomly picked partners in closets, then perhaps muggle girls were just a lot more interested in and open about sex. He almost jumped out of bed to go ask Granger, but then he realised that it would seem like a very strange question since she had no idea he'd overheard her the first night. He'd just have to think of a way to bring it up with some sort of innocent context.

Saturday morning he found Granger eating a savoury muffin in the sitting room, nose in a book.

"So Granger" he began adopting his most perfectly practiced uncaring lean against the bookshelf, the put on casualness enhanced by the placement of one hand in his pocket. She looked up.

"Yeah?"

"You never explained the rest of the games."

"Wha?"

"The muggle party games."

"Oh right. Well, which ones don't you know?"

"All of them"

"All of them? Really? Slytherins don't play truth or dare or spin the bottle?"

"No"

"Huh. _Weird_."

"It's not that weird" he replied defensively, "we don't have any muggle borns, so we don't play muggle games."

Granger shrugged. "Fair enough. Well in spin the bottle everyone sits in a circle with an empty bottle in the middle and takes turns spinning it, and then you kiss whoever it lands on. Strip poker is a variation of a card game, each time you lose a round you have to remove an article of clothing, truth or dare can be done with or without a bottle like in spin the bottle, but you get to ask the person it lands on 'truth or dare' and depending what they answer you can either ask them something they have to answer truthfully or you give them something stupid or embarrassing to do as a dare."

"What about the other one you said. Never something?"

"Oh, right." she replied, clearly having forgotten that one. "It's kind of hard to explain, so, it's supposed to be done with alcohol and each person gets to ask the group something. But you have to say "never have I ever" and then your deed, and everyone who has done that has to drink."

Draco was confused. "I don't get it."

"Ok, so for example I might say Never have I ever checked out a teacher, and if you have checked out a teacher then you have to drink."

"Ah, Right. So then what if you aren't playing with booze?"

"I think you have to do a lap of the room or something, I guess it depends who you're playing with. Apparently the questions can be pretty intrusive"

"Like?" he inquired.

"Like never have I ever masturbated at a friend's house" Granger replied deadpan.

"Yikes" Draco replied his brain working double time, this was the perfect in.

"I know right."

"I'd better do a lap of the couch" He laughed

Granger cringed just slightly, "well i'm clean on that one," she laughed "but Stacey tells me that it's surprisingly common amongst the girls to have to do a lap."

 _Bullseye_ Draco thought, and raised an eyebrow "really" he drawled. "So muggle girls jack off huh?"

Granger shrugged noncommittally. "Muggle girls, witches, I doubt it matters."

"It does in Slytherin" Draco scoffed. "Don't know what you Griffindork girls get up to, but i'm pretty sure the slytherin girls are not touching themselves."

"Really?" Granger replied in genuine surprise. "maybe they just don't talk about it" she added slightly condescending.

"Trust me" Draco replied with a significant look. "Those girls are extreme prudes."

"Huh, they're missing out." she replied before clearly realising what she'd just revealed, "I mean…."

"Don't worry Granger" Draco smirked. "I won't tell. Just please tell me you don't think about Potty or Weasel" he added pulling a disgusted face.

Granger's face bloomed red again, "No." she admitted. "Not them."

Draco noticed that she seemed suddenly desperate to avoid eye contact. Suddenly something he'd heard her say on Sunday night popped into his brain " _he doesn't know, nobody ever has to know it was him_ " Circe's tits! Was she thinking about him? He narrowed his eyes at her, thinking. Surely not? Only one way to find out.

"So then Granger" he asked "if I asked who you do think about, would I be on your list?"

Beet red covered her whole face. "No" she squeaked. "And i'm not saying any more." she hissed, flipping open her book.

"I'll take that as a yes." Draco replied smugly sauntering off in search of breakfast.

Hermione wanted to cry. Gods how had she managed to get herself in this situation. Malfoy clearly didn't believe her denial. Ugh. the insufferable git. Now how was she going to survive three more weeks stuck with just him for company. She groaned and dropped her head into her hands. Before deciding that hiding out in her room till lunch might just be an awesome idea.

"Whatcha been doing Granger?" Malfoy asked with a cocky smirk as she slunk into the kitchen for some lunch. "Thinking of me?" he taunted.

Hermione just glared at him, refusing to rise to the bait and speak. She made herself a sandwich as fast as she could and reached for the fruit bowl. Her hand hovered for a minute, she really wanted a banana, but knowing Malfoy he'd make some lewd comment if she picked that, so she settled for an apple, and marched out of the kitchen back to the safety of her room.

_

By dinner Draco was bored. Really bored. Granger had been right about making a truce, but now she was embarrassed and avoiding him. He sighed. _I guess I'd better apologize_ he thought _otherwise it's going to be a looong weekend._

"Granger, wait" he called as she tried to rush off to hide again after dinner.

"What?" she snarled spinning to a stop.

Draco put on his best sheepishly apologetic face, "look i'm sorry I embarrassed you. Will you come play that scrabble game?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Fine" she huffed and stomped off to the sitting room.

Draco ducked back into the kitchen grabbing some drinks, sweets, bowls and a tube of something called Pringles. By the time he reached the sitting room Granger had the game set up. He placed a butterbeer down in front of her wordlessly and asked her to explain the rules.

Half way through the game, when she finally relaxed Draco hedged his bets. "I really didn't mean to embarrass you" he said.

"It's fine" she replied dismissively

"No it's not. It was a jackass thing to do actually, and I'm sorry."

She stared at him.

"Apology accepted" she finally replied a little disbelievingly.

"Can I ask you a serious question though?"

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "I guess, but I don't promise to answer."

"Why don't girls talk about it? Guys have no problem admitting that they wank, so why is it so different for girls. I mean I didn't even know that girls did. But i'm sure you lot all know that guys do."

Granger shrugged. "It's just one of those things, that's come about as a result of the double standard on sex." she replied, sifting through her tiles.

"Double standard?" He queried. He guessed it was a muggle term.

"Well guys are allowed to enjoy sex and have high libidos but girls are expected to be all pure and virginal and not enjoy sex. It's total crap" she huffed, putting her word on the board. "But that's just how things are." she finished resignedly.

"Well how is it ever going to change if you all refuse to admit to liking it?" he returned challengingly.

"I don't know." she replied, contemplative.

"Well maybe you should practice." Draco suggested.

"What, with you?" she scoffed.

"Sure why not?" he asked spreading his hands wide.

"Oh I don't know" Granger replied snarkily "maybe because we hate each other?"

Draco shrugged. "I'm not really seeing that that's a problem." he countered.

She scoffed again.

"No seriously Granger, think about it. You're a girl, I'm a guy, you're muggle born, I'm a pureblood, I know I have questions about girls bodies i'd love to have answered and I'm sure as hell not going to get an answer out of Pansy or Daphne, I bet you've got questions that would make Boy Wonder and the sidekick blush. We're both curious and like to learn. So why not learn while we have the chance? When this course is over we go back to hating each other, but with knowledge we didn't have before."

He could see she was considering it. He could practically see the gears of her brain ticking over. He placed his own tiles on the board while he waited for an answer.

"All right" she said, causing Draco's eyebrows to jump in shock, he'd fully expected her to shoot him down. "For science. I will agree, but you can't use any information to make fun of me or spread rumors about me when we get back to school."

"You'll hold just as much dirt on me Granger." he replied with a smirk offering out his hand for her to shake. "Deal?"

"Deal." she said warily.

"Great, should we finish the game?" Draco asked gesturing towards the scrabble board.

Granger responded by laying down tiles "triple word score, and a Z." she said smugly crossing her arms.

"Crap."

Authors note

So about Draco.

This is the end of third year. At this point in his life Draco has been extremely sheltered. Homeschooled with a Governess, only having play dates with other "suitable" children, no siblings or cousins. Hogwarts is his first experience of life beyond his parents beliefs. But he's in Slytherin - he spends the vast majority of his time at school still surrounded by the same people he spent his childhood with, and with people who share the same values as he does. As Super CarinBrothers said in "The Sorting Hat Makes No Sense" - he's surrounded by yes men. Sure he has classes with the other houses, but they still almost exclusively sit segregated by house, pairing up with their housemates for projects. Draco has been actively told by his father that Dumbledore is "the worst thing that ever happened to Hogwarts" and he holds no respect for Hagrid or Lupin due to their half-breed status, but he has probably also been brainwashed against McGonagall and Flitwick since they are both Order members and known Muggle-sympathisers. Draco has a disdainful attitude to both Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs in general as well as muggleborns and "blood traitors" more specifically, and none of those beliefs have ever really been challenged.

He's not going to listen to his teachers claims that muggleborns are just as worthy, because the only teacher he truly respects is Snape, and Snape is not saying it. His friends and housemates have all been raised the same way, and even if you take someone like Tracey Davis - a half blood (but not first generation) what are the chances that she's going to stand up to all her housemates and say anything about their bigotry? She's 14 and she's a Slytherin, a house who prides themselves on being self-preserving. The whole environment of Hogwarts is designed to work to enhance confirmation bias, and to discourage students from having their views challenged

Unlike the majority of Dramonie fics, this is pre-war. Voldemort is thought to be gone and not coming back.

Whilst I think Draco's attitudes to muggleborns and blood traitors are very much real, the pre-Voldemort's return Draco has a lot less riding on his continued acceptance of his parents beliefs. His father is political, and the Malfoy family have always shifted allegiance to suit the current climate. Had Voldemort never returned, they would have continued to claim publicly that their involvement with him was forced and that they fully supported the ministry's stance on Muggles/Muggleborns. It is quite possible that they may have eventually altered their private beliefs as well given time. They'd done it in the past. So pre-Voldemort Draco is just as interesting as 6th year Draco because if enough changes in his circumstances, then it could cause a massive shift to his future path. If Harry had shaken his hand, if he (or he and Hermione) had been sorted into Ravenclaw, if older Slytherins or Snape had countered some of the brainwashing, or if there had been a concerted push for house unity things could have been very different for him, and the Malfoy family in general.

So, we've got 14 year old Draco suddenly forced to spend all his time with only Hermione for both company and a work partner. You can't spend a week in close quarters with someone you have previously spent practically no time with and not find out that a lot of your assumptions were just that. Assumptions.

Sure a week isn't a huge amount of time, and I would happily have made it longer, but my understanding of the U.K. School terms is that summer is somewhere between the 6 weeks we get in Australia and the 3 months they get in the US. As such I figured that 4 weeks was the longest I could have the program go for and still have Hermione have gotten to at least see her parents, despite going to the Burrow for the end part of the holidays. Since I only had 4 weeks to work with, Draco had to lose his hostility and aversion to her pretty quickly. But considering it's only the end of third year, I don't think it's entirely unbelievable.


	3. Part 2

On Sunday after breakfast, as they were walking to the sitting room, Granger presented him with a list.

"What's this?" he asked.

"It's a list of things I want to know about."

"Right." he replied eyeing the twelve inches of close packed handwriting. "It's a bit extensive isn't it?"

Granger put her hands on her hips. "I don't like having gaps in my knowledge, If something is worth doing it is worth doing properly." she replied in her swotty voice.

"Clearly" Draco drawled

"Besides when am I ever going to get another opportunity like this?" She added.

"Alright," He conceded and began to read aloud. 'Question one, are guys nipples sensitive?' hm. I don't actually know, i've never experimented with them."

Granger bit her lip, "really? Ok" she said disappointedly.

Draco read on in silence. "To be honest Granger a lot of this I either don't actually know, or it seems like a practical demonstration is needed."

Hermione sighed; again. "Well I guess there's not much point then is there?" she said bitterly.

"I'll see you later, i'm going to go write letters or something." she added trying to hide her disappointment. There was nothing more irritating to Hermione then having what looked like a great opportunity to expand her knowledge turn out to be a bust. She was almost at her room when she heard Malfoy call out.

"Granger wait. The things I want to know are probably much the same. That they require practical experience or demonstrations to really know the answer."

She crossed her arms and looked around at him derisively.

He continued. "Well it seems like the only way to get the answers we want is to test things out, an experiment of sorts, theoretical knowledge can only get you so far."

"Yes I figured that much out for myself, thank you." Hermione snapped, turning back to storm off.

"Well what if we experiment?" Malfoy called out from behind her.

Hermione stopped in her tracks, whirling to face him once more, this time gobsmacked.

"What?"

"What if we experiment."

"What, like, with each other?" She clarified.

"Do you see anyone else here?" Malfoy drawled raising an eyebrow.

"Uhhh." Hermione responded mulling it over. "I guess that would be a much more effective way to learn. But isn't there one big problem you're forgetting?"

"What's that?" Malfoy asked.

"That i'm a filthy mudblood" she deadpanned, crossing her arms.

"Oh, yeah." Malfoy appeared to think about it before shrugging. "Meh"

"Meh!?"" Hermione replied incredulous.

"Yes, meh, as in who cares, does it matter?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him and crossed her arms tighter, "alright then. But I get first choice."

"Sure, whatever." Malfoy replied doing that fake-casual leaning against the wall and inspecting his fingernail thing he did.

She bit her lip nervously, thinking. "Um, well I guess we should probably stick to one of our rooms then, this doesn't seem like the kind of thing we can do in the sitting room."

Malfoy laughed. "No, no it doesn't." he looked at her with a cocky smirk, "so, your place or mine?"

Hermione couldn't help but giggle. "Where'd you hear that line?"

"Blaise has a muggle video player and a bit of an obsession with those movie things." he replied, "not all of them involve people who are clothed."

"Blaise has a porn stash. Ugh. Gross." she shuddered making a face.

"Yeah, he thinks it's awesome, but I wasn't entirely convinced. Something about the girl's eyes…. They just seemed to be screaming the whole time, even though they were acting like they were enjoying it. I only watched it long enough for Zabini to get his kicks from showing off his 'risque' collection."

Hermione shuddered. As they continued down the hallway a disturbing thought occurred to her.

"He didn't wank in front of you did he?"

"Ugh, Gods no, don't put that image in my head."

The pair looked at eachother and dissolved into peals of laughter.

When they reached the doorways to their rooms, Hermione had a sudden attack of nerves, "so, um, your room then?" she asked timidly.

"Uh, yeah. I guess." Malfoy replied opening the door.

Malfoy's room was as dark as hers was light, but just as calming. There was still a chandelier in the middle of the ceiling, but there was also a large black muggle floor lamp, though Hermione suspected Draco didn't know how to make it work. Instead of a window seat the far wall held two full length french door style windows, framed with grey drapes. The walls were painted a light grey and all the furniture was very modern, black wood with small chrome capped legs, or "floating" on the wall. The floor was covered in plush grey carpet, with two large mats under the bed area in black and grey giving a monochromatic effect. The double bed, dressed in grey sheets had a black leather bedhead which matched a large ottoman in the middle of the room.

"It's very you, isn't it?" Hermione mused as she took it all in.

"Yeah, I like it." Malfoy replied casually, flopping down onto the bed. "So" he said with a look at Hermione.

"So" she replied.

"Well what do you want to start with?"

"Umm." she bit her lip. "Well why don't we start with the first thing on my list." Her voice dropped into lecture mode "Do guys have sensitive nipples?"

Malfoy raised an eyebrow at her and started to unbutton his shirt. Hermione blanched and hid her face behind her hands. "Getting shy already Granger?" he teased.

"Mmhm" she whimpered.

Malfoy sighed, "alright you can keep your eyes shut but these" he said picking up her hands and peeling them away from her face, having clearly moved to stand in front of her. "These are needed." he finished, and placed her hands on his bare chest.

His skin was warm, which surprised Hermione since it was so pale it looked like it would be cold. Her hands simply hovered there for a minute, touching him, but not really _touching_ him. Eventually she let out a huge breath and let her fingers actually feel. He wasn't very broad chested, in fact he was downright reedy, but he was only fourteen, he still had a lot of growing to do yet, but the potential was there Hermione felt for him to develop the kind of build she'd noticed the Twins were starting to sport. As she let her hands slowly roam across his chest taking in the smoothness of his skin she slowly grew brave enough to open her eyes. That changed everything, whilst having her eyes closed had sent more information to her skin, there was something about watching her hands trail across a male chest that felt instinctively…. Well she wasn't really sure, but it made her breath catch.

Draco heard Granger's breath catch and saw her eyes lift to meet his. They were wide and questioning, the pupils strangely dilated despite the light in the room. They stared at each other for seconds that felt like days, until Granger circled his right nipple with her thumb. Draco gulped. Granger looked at him questioningly, tilting her head slightly to one side.

"That feels nice" he replied to her silent question. "Really nice" he added sheepishly with a pointed glance towards his pelvis.

"Oh" Granger replied surprised as she followed his gaze to the tent that was pitching itself in his pants. "Well I guess that answers question one then, hey." she said.

He scoffed. "I guess so."

"Should I stop?"

"No, don't, in fact. Maybe you could try…..um. With your mouth?"

"My mouth?" she asked innocently. Draco nodded.

"Uh, ok. Like, like this?" she lowered her face to his chest and placed a chaste kiss on his nipple.

"Um, maybe like, open mouth, and kind of licking?"

"Oh" she said nodding her head against him in understanding, before giving it a try.

The second the wet expanse of her mouth enveloped his nipple Draco's knees buckled. "Fuuuck" he moaned, putting his hands on her tiny hips and backing them slowly over to the ottoman. She sent him that curious look again. "Need stability. Weak knees" he panted.

"So, it's good then?"

"Ooooh yeah." he breathed.

She did that lip biting thing again, and then kind of half nodded half shrugged before lowering her mouth back to his nipple. She was kind of straddling him now, which was awarkly good, but Merlin what she was doing to his nipple felt amazing. Especially as she started to get braver and try new things. Like seemingly everything Granger did, once she gained her confidence she learnt quickly and instinctively, adjusting her movements in relation to his moans and grunts. There was only one time he had to tell her he didn't like something, which was when she pinched his nipple between her fingers and her thumb. He figured he just didn't like how it was kind of painful, but when she accidentally scraped her teeth against him that theory got blown out of the water.

"Oh, sorry!" she cried pleadingly.

"No" he breathed, "that felt amazing. Do it again."

"R...really?"

"Yeah." he replied nodding absently. "Really."

"Uh ok." she timidly lowered her lips back to his chest and tried to recreate what she'd done.

"Trust me Granger, harder." Draco said darkly.

Granger shrugged. "If you say so." and went back to work.

Before long he was writhing in ecstasy moaning and swearing and having difficulty catching his breath. _Oh gods_ he thought _i'm going to to come._ Granger suddenly stopped and sat up staring at him like he was a present on Christmas morning.

"Really?!" she asked excitedly.

"What?"

"You said you were going to come."

"Fuck! I said that out loud?" he yelped sitting up and pushing her backwards until she was standing.

"Yeeesss" she replied questioningly.

"Uhhhhh, wait, why are you looking at me like that?"

"I don't know." she replied in that way girls do when they really actually do know.

"I just, that's kind of exciting, that I can make you react like that, that I have that kind of power." she said her eyes alight.

"It's not exciting it's embarrassing. Blowing your load in your pants. Everyone knows that." he snarled, beginning to button up his shirt.

She crossed her arms and looked at him pityingly. "Well it's a good thing i'm not everyone. Because personally I think it's pretty cool that I can have that effect." she added leveling him with her 'dont mess with me' face.

"Really?" He questioned, unconvinced.

" _Really_ " she replied. "Now if you don't mind i'm going to go back to what I was doing, and I _expect_ to make you come." she added in her bossy voice, placing her hand on his chest and pushing him backwards onto the ottoman, then climbing on top of his hips.

"Woah." Draco breathed. "That was kinda hot."

She smirked at him, before descending on his nipple.

It wasn't long before she got her wish, especially seeing as how she wriggled herself backwards to get a better angle. He suspected she was unaware of just what kind of effect that particular move had on him, but it was instant and primal and made him feel a desperate urge to buck his hips up into hers, an urge he managed to suppress only because he thought it might freak her out. But as he felt his warm seed flood the front of his pants, he felt more turned on than he'd ever been in his life.

Hermione felt Malfoy shudder and he cry out suddenly before going limp. If she wasn't mistaken, that was the sign she's been looking for. With her mouth still pressed against his chest she murmured a question. "Was that...?"

"Yeah" he breathed, letting out a huge contented sigh. "Holy hell Granger. This was the best idea ever."

She laughed, sitting up, and swatting him playfully on the arm.

"No seriously," he said still panting for breath. "You have to try it!" He announced. He sat up and looked at her imploringly, seeking her permission. She bit her lip, nervous, but gave a nod, which caused him to flip them both over so that now he was straddling her undoing the buttons of her sleeveless shirt, (the kind with the long bits at the front that tie). He kept the shirt closed until he had undone all the buttons and the tie, then looked at her again, clarifying. She nodded once more and he opened the top part of the shirt slowly exposing her breasts and bra. Hermione was glad she'd worn her favourite one, mulberry pink cotton with a lace back that made her feel grown up and beautiful.

He slowly lowered his fingers to her collarbones, tracing soft patterns across her skin that made her breathing shallow. Slowly his explorations extended their reach, tracing lightly over the tops of her breast, the fabric of her bra, the ridge where the wire met her skin, her ribs and stomach. As he traced he watched her with a curious mix of reverence and uncertainty. Watching her face and body for the tiny reactions that might show her likes or dislikes. Hermione felt, rather than heard the tiny mewling whimpers she was letting out as his hands explored her body, shocking herself with how her breath caught in a wanton moan as he dipped one finger under the wire of her bra, the other hand repeating the action along the top of the cup.

After a few minutes of Malfoy's testing explorations he spoke. "How do I?" he gestured to her bra, his voice sounded strange, much lower than usual, a kind of vision of how he might sound in a few years time, and it made wetness pool in Hermione's knickers taking her by surprise.

"How do you take it off?" she asked when she regained her sudden loss of breath. He nodded.

"Um, i'll need to sit up, here, give me your hand." she said.

He shifted allowing her to sit up and she guided his hand around to her back, helping him to undo the clasp. He slowly peeled the straps down her shoulders, and she was struck with how worshipful his approach was, as if she were some sort of ancient book or holy object that one was lucky enough to get to see first hand. When he finally removed her shirt and bra completely he spent a few minutes simply looking at her, his face awed and unguarded.

Hermione thought he looked much nicer like that. And it struck her that maybe Draco Malfoy wasn't often free to show himself at such ease. She lay herself back down on the ottoman.

"Can you, can you show me what you like?" he asked timidly.

"Um, ok" she squeaked, she hadn't really expected that.

She nervously reached out for his hands and guided them to her breasts, cupping them from underneath the way she liked best. As the sensations of his hands meeting her skin took over, her shyness dissipated and before long she was luxuriating in the feel of his hands on her body, and how strangely powerful it felt to be guiding them, showing him exactly how to touch her. _The books were right_ she thought with a satisfied moan _this is totally empowering_. The wetness between her legs was building and with it her confidence.

"Malfoy," she breathed "can you kiss them now?"

He complied eagerly, mimicking the things she'd done to him and suddenly Hermione was oh-so-aware of why he'd been so adamant that she needed to try it. His mouth was warm and wet, suckling and licking and biting shooting wave after wave of pleasure to her groin.

"Ooohhh" she moaned shuddering as she felt her hole drip cum. "Oh God, Malfoy, please don't stop." She was fighting a desperate urge to slide her hand into her pants, she'd never orgasamed with only breast stimulation before, but she held back determined to find out if it was possible. And boy was it possible. As Malfoy bit down on her areola, dragging his teeth up to her nipple Hermione was rocked by intense waves of pleasure, shouting out his name amongst her moans as her body convulsed. He kept up his ministrations as her orgasam ebbed.

"Oh" she sighed blissfully. "You were right, that was amazing."

He sat up and grinned at her in a way that made her think of a wolf with its prey, and had her wishing he would eat her up.

"You were right too." he said with a smirk. "It's a pretty powerful rush being able to make someone come."

"Ugn" she agreed nodding exhaustedly and pulling him down to sprawl beside her. "I'm just….just going to lie here for a bit." she panted letting her body sink into the ottoman.

Draco was woken by a rumble in his stomach, he sat up to find Granger, fully clothed and perched on his bed with her list and a quill, crossing things out. She caught him watching her and looked up sheepishly, "I like to keep my lists up to date" she said with the edge of a dare in her tone.

He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender to show he wasn't going to tease, and wandered over to take a look. Reaching out to pull the front of the list down he was surprised to see so many things crossed out.

"Did we really cover all of that?" he asked amused.

She shrugged, "it seems practical demonstrations really are the best way to learn this stuff" she said with a laugh.

His stomach growled again. "Well I don't know about you but I need food before we do any more _studying_."

She giggled. "Yeah, lunch sounds like a good idea."

"Hey Malfoy" Granger asked as they wandered down to the kitchen.

"Yeah"

"Truth or dare"

Draco shrugged. "What the hell, truth."

"Do you think i'm ugly?" she asked in a timid voice. He stopped and stared at her.

"Do you really think I would have done that with you just now if I thought you were ugly?" he asked incredulously.

She shrugged and he was struck by how vulnerable she looked. "I don't know, I've heard that guys will do pretty much anything to get some" she stated simply.

"Wow, you really don't have a very high opinion of me do you?" he countered.

She snorted and gave him a rather pointed look.

"Yeah yeah, I guess I have kind of brought that on myself. But trust me, Millicent Bulstrode could be lying on my bed buck naked and begging me to fuck her and there is no way in hell I would even consider it."

"Oh" she said still uncertain. "So you don't actually think i'm ugly?"

He sighed, and moved to the wall sliding down it to sit, and gesturing for her to do the same. When she did he continued.

"Look, to be honest Granger if you'd asked me a week ago I would have said you resembled a troll."

She cringed

"But since Sunday i've come to realise that a lot of my perception of you was, well _wrong_. Not just how you look, but that was definitely wrong too. It's like I actually saw _you_ for the first time on Sunday night, instead of just seeing what i'd been told to see."

"Because i'm a mudblood?"

He nodded. "All my life i've been told that muggleborns and muggles are ugly, and well, the bushy hair and teeth three sizes too big just confirmed that for me. But somewhere in the last three years you started to grow up" he sighed "and I just didn't see it until Sunday night. I seriously thought you must have taken some sort of beauty potion or sucked some Vela blood or something I was so gobsmacked." He added with a laugh "And then the next morning you were just regular Granger again, but yet you weren't. When I actually looked, the cute freckles on your nose, and the pretty eyes were all still there, it just took it being shoved in my face for me to realise that my mental image of you was highly inaccurate."

She managed a small smile.

"Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if you have half the boys in Hogwarts nursing a crush on you by the end of this year." he added standing and holding out his hand. "now come on, lunch."

She trailed behind him the rest of the way to the kitchen, lost in thought, so it was with a modicum of surprise that she realised they'd reached the kitchen.

"Hey Granger" Malfoy said with a cocky head nod, "truth or dare?"

Feeling suspiciously like her standing as a Gryffindor was on the line, she answered. "dare".

"There's a bottle of wine in the refrigerator, you're going to pilfer it for us for later."

Hermione rolled her eyes. _Honnestly, what was this ametuer hour._ "Consider it done." she replied with a smirk.

She found him in the sitting room, in an armchair by the windows that ran down the long wall opposite the door. She walked over and plonked a bottle down in front of him on a low coffee table.

"Apple juice?" he asked with a skeptical look .

"Have a taste" she replied calmly. He uncapped the bottle and took a big swig, choking slightly as the unexpected taste hit his tongue.

"Right, I guess you pass." he spluttered.

"Hm," she hummed. "One bottle of 'wine' still in the fridge one bottle of 'juice' drunk by us. It's the perfect ruse." She smirked confidently.

"How very Slytherin of you" Malfoy replied.

She stuck her tongue out at him and stalked back to the couch.

"Well it's not like stealing from Snape's store cupboard or anything, _that_ was challenging, this wasn't." she said matter of factly, sinking into the couch.

" _You_ stole from _Snape?!"_

"Mmhm" she replied nonchalantly.

"Allright Granger" he challenged, "we've got wine, you've clearly got secrets, I think it's time for Never have I ever."

"Sure" she said with a dismissive shrug, before reaching out to Acio the bottle from his hands.

"Bring. It. On" she challenged back.

"Never have I ever helped a dangerous animal escape" he said with narrowed eyes.

Hermione smirked at him and took two swigs of wine.

"Two?" he queried.

"Well i've done it twice, a baby dragon, and Buckbeak, three times if you count Sirius Black, but he's not actually dangerous and only sometimes an animal so…."

"I knew you lot had a Dragon." he snarled, vindicated. "Wait, Sirius Black? Didn't he murder a bunch of muggles? How is he not dangerous or sometimes an animal?" He added confounded.

Hermione laughed and explained.

"Never have I ever daydreamed about a teacher"

Draco took the bottle from her hand. Hermione raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"Not a Hogwarts teacher" he clarified, making a revolted face "my parents insist that I take dancing lessons, _A Malfoy must be able to waltz_ " he said imitating what Hermione assumed was his Mother. "The dancing teacher is hot. What about you?"

Hermione blushed and hung her head in shame. "Lockhart" she admitted, looking up through her lashes. " _Before_ we all found out he was a total fraud" she clarified with a raised finger of warning.

"Hm." he hummed. "Never have I ever broken more than two school rules at once."

Hermione held her hand out for the bottle. "I'm not taking a swig for every instance this time, I'll be passed out in no time" she warned.

"That many times huh? Has bookwork Granger got a secret life as a badass rule breaker." Malfoy teased mockingly.

Hermione took her drink holding up a finger to say just a minute as she swallowed. Ticking them off on her fingers she made her list. "First year: The dragon, which we'd been sneaking out and feeding for weeks before we smuggled it out of school, our purposeful trip to the third floor corridor, including being out after curfew, hexing a classmate, breaking and entering and being in a forbidden location. Second year, taking a book out of the restricted section, stealing from Snape and brewing a controlled potion in Myrtle's bathroom. Last year, unauthorised use of a time-turner, sneaking out at night to rescue Buckbeak, being on the grounds at night, leaving Hogwarts grounds via a secret passageway, assaulting a fellow student" she pointed at him "duelling multiple teachers, and helping smuggle a criminal off school grounds." She finished with a smirk "Though, some of that was pre-approved by Dumbledore so i'm not really sure if it counts as rule breaking."

"Gryffindors." he spat huffily, "always breaking the rules and getting praised for it."

Hermione ignored him "You?" she asked in a saccharine sweet voice.

"No," he replied still bitter "plenty of individual rules but not a whole bunch at once."

"My turn then, Never have I ever been drunk?"

Neither of them moved. "I have a feeling that might change by the end of this game though." Hermione laughed.

"Never have I ever kissed two people in one day."

Hermione remained still, but Draco took a swig. "Really?" she asked a bit disgusted.

He shrugged. "I was five it was Pansy and Daphne, they've been fighting over me ever since" he said with a wink.

Hermione laughed. "I'm not sure that counts" she said.

"Oh well, I already drank. Never have I ever _really_ kissed my best friend."

Hermione was still again. "Huh," Malfoy replied, "I thought for sure you would have snogged one of those sidekicks of yours."

Hermione gave a bitter laugh, "No, there has definitely not been any snogging. With Harry and Ron, or anyone else." she muttered ruefully.

"You've never been kissed?"

She sighed. "No." she replied defensively.

Malfoy's eyebrows raised. "How come it wasn't on your list?"

Hermione looked at him searchingly. "I don't know" she sighed. "It just seemed too intimate."

"Too intimate?" Malfoy laughed. "Granger I'm pretty sure there multiple things on that list of yours that require hands or mouths on genitals, how is snogging too intimate?"

"Oh I don't know" she retaliated throwing a couch cushion at him. "That's just an investigation, for science, you know. Kissing is, well I'd like it to be romantic, not scientific."

"Ok" Malfoy replied holding up his hands in surrender to show he was backing off. "Your turn then"

"Ok, umm right, never have I ever tried to imagine what sex will be like."

They both drank.

"Never have I ever tried to replicate what sex might be like with something other than my hand" Malfoy one upped.

She drank, and Malfoy shot her an impressed look. "My wand" Hermione admitted. He nodded consideringly.

"Never have I ever thought about or seen a member of the same gender naked and liked it" Hermione challenged.

Malfoy drank. Hermione stared gobsmacked.

"If you don't shut your gob Granger flies will get in." He snarled.

"Right, sorry." she reached for the bottle and took a drink. "Parvati" she admitted.

"Warrington"

"The quidditch keeper for Slytherin?"

"That's the one"

"Huh"

"Never have I ever fantasised about a friend's parent or sibling" countered cleary wanting to change the subject.

Hermione sighed and drank again.

"Well Potter doesn't _have_ parents or siblings, and I doubt you've got a thing for _Mr_ Weasley, so I'm going to guess one or both of the twins." Malfoy speculated.

"Charlie actually." she replied primly.

"Charlie? Who's Charlie?"

"He's the second eldest. Works with dragons. Very fit. Longish hair, dragon tooth earring, tattoo, dragon-hide boots….." She trailed off dreamily.

"Well that I did not predict." Malfoy laughed. "Got a thing for the bad boy vibe huh Granger?"

She shrugged. "He's not really a bad boy, he just looks like one. I think that's what makes him so attractive actually, that he's got that dangerous vibe, but it's all in his work, not his treatment of women, or his personality."

Malfoy drank too. "Daphne's mum." he said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Hermione wrinkled her nose and shuddered "ugh, boys are gross."

"No arguments here" Malfoy laughed.

As the afternoon wore on and the bottle was drained, the pair found themselves getting very giggly.

"How'r we gonna get throo diner without blowing our cov-hic cover?" Hermione slurred when she noticed that the walls were starting to spin.

"I don't know" Malfoy replied, "but I think we'd better stop drinking."

"Mmm thas' a good idea" Hermione yawned sliding down on the couch that Malfoy now sat at the base of, and holding up the already empty bottle.

"Oh!" he suddenly said snapping his fingers. "I've got it."

"What?" she replied, tilting sideways onto his shoulder.

"This is a potion master's house, surely he's got some sobriety potion"

"Oh, yes. That's brilliant" Hermione gasped sitting bolt upright. "How are we going to find it though?"

"Hrrm…..ah, oh! Sqeakle" he called.

A loud pop sounded to the left of Hermione and she was surprised to find a small elf wearing a tidy tea-towel uniform appear.

"I din't know there were elveses here" she slurred.

"You called sir?" Sqeakle asked and Hermione could instantly tell why he'd been named as such.

"Yeah. Do you think you could find us a sober up potion?"

The Elf looked offended. "Squeakle will do no such thing, young sir, yous is too young to bes drinking. You shall have to deal with the consequences." he said and apparated away.

Hermione burst out laughing. "HA! You just got told by a house elf Malfoy. Bet that's never happened to you before" she chuckled.

"Damn right it hasn't, who does that elf think he is?" Draco replied snippily.

Hermione was still laughing.

"It's not funny" Malfoy snarled, "now what are we going to do?"

"Uhhh, um. Coffee?"

"Ugh, I hate coffee."

"Got a better idea?"

"No" he admitted.

"Come on, i'll show you how to make it tolerable." she replied extracting herself from the couch and dragging him up by the arm. "Muggles make this thing called an iced coffee" she explained as she dragged him along. "It's got ice cream and cream and it's deliceeioous." she added, pointing her finger at him multiple times as if to underscore her conviction.


	4. Part 3

Monday night they spent studying, having an enthusiastic conversation about the different applications of various potions ingredients as they scoured the Institute library for texts that caught their eye.

Tuesday they investigated the house library, their impassioned arguments in defense of various works of literature, both wizarding, and in Hermione's case muggle, muffled somewhat by the presence of so much and wood, carpet, as well as the books themselves.

Draco was sent to bed with a copy of Jane Austen's Persuasion, and a warning that they _would_ be discussing it come friday.

Wednesday evening found them playing board games and answering each other's questions about sex and sexuality.

"What do guys think about when they, you know….wank?" Hermione asked as she picked up card from the Community Chest pile.

"Girls." Draco replied

"Well I know that" Hermione sighed with teasing exasperation. "But do you imagine particular girls, or create scenarios or imagine particular acts?"

Draco rolled the dice moving his token forward. "Bollocks" he muttered as he landed on one of Hermione's properties. "Well, I can't speak for all guys, though I assume there is a certain amount of consistency in approach, but yes, there is often a particular girl, though not always, and I usually like to imagine particular acts." he said sorting out the required money.

"Like?" Hermione replied rolling the dice.

"Like in the shower with her on her knees sucking me off." He announced matter-of-factly

"The shower?" Hermione queried a hit of intrigue curiosity in her voice. "I've never considered the concept of the shower." Draco could see the gears in her brain churning as she mulled it over.

"What is it about the shower that appeals to you?" she asked quickly tallying her available money "two houses please Mr Banker." Draco handed over the houses and Hermione lined them up carefully.

"It's warm, it's wet, huh, that sounds like i'm describing something else" he said winking lavisciously. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"The dripping of the water, the way it runs down your body creating little trails, I like how it feels."

"Mmm" Hermione groaned her breath catching with the sudden memory of watching water droplets run down his very back on their first night at Belby's.

Draco raised an eyebrow at her unexpectedly shameless response. "Like the sound of that do you?" he asked with a wolfish grin.

"Yeah, I do actually." Hermione admitted, laughing at herself. "Though I think I would be really grateful for cushioning charms if I had to kneel on a shower floor."

"Lucky you're a witch then."

"Indeed." She replied, slightly taken aback that Malfoy of all people had just called her a witch. Without qualification. An equal.

"So what kinds of girls do it for you?" she added when she realised she had been staring off in contemplation.

His eyes went wide and panic momentarily flooded his face as he struggled to maintain his mask of passive indifference, there was no way he was going to admit that she had been his wank material of choice the last few days.

"Oh, you know, The Patil twins, Daphne, Blythe Spencer, Meredith Perrin" he hedged.

"I don't know who they are." Hermione replied, moving her token up the board.

"Slytherin, fifth and sixth years."

"Ah." she picked up a card, and then counted out and handed Draco some money. "Attend a Ministry fundraiser, spend thirty Galleons on tickets." she said by way of explanation.

"Expensive fundraiser" Malfoy muttered with a raised brow.

"Yes well, i'm going to pretend that it's for a good cause, like a subsidised Wolfsbane program, and not for some silly sporting stadium" she replied acerbically.

"Not a fan of the world cup I take it?"

"Not a fan of Quidditch. I'm going of course." she explained "The Weasleys are taking Harry and I, but I expect I will be quite bored."

He looked at her like she'd suddenly sprouted tentacles from her ears. Shaking his head, he rolled the dice. "So who and what do you think about then?" he asked opting to steer the conversation back to safer territory.

"Me, oh, umm well you know about Charlie, uh, Dean, Terry Boot, Grant Page"

"The Ravenclaw keeper?"

She nodded. Of course there was also a certain blonde who had been invading her fantasies with more and more consistency since their arrival, but she wasn't saying that out loud. Even if she'd already kind of accidently alluded to it last week.

"And I don't think I have a favorite scene, it depends what mood i'm in. Sometimes it's something romantic, sometimes it's really just about how things feel and there's no real backdrop, and sometimes it's something daring like getting fingered in the library" she admitted with a slight blush.

Draco's jaw dropped.

"Sweet Salazar" he uttered his breath shuddering. "Damn, Granger, who would ever guess that there's a secret minx hidden beneath that bookishness!"

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Prat, oh, and pay up" she added pointing to his token which he'd just moved to one of her properties.

He rolled his eyes, "of course you'd make me pay for landing on my own bloody house." he muttered.

"Sorry" she sang "but I think you'll find it's _my_ house, seeing as I have the property deed right here." she said with a smug smile holding up the card describing Malfoy Mannor.

By Thursday were relaxed enough in each other's presence to be seen playfully hitting, casually touching, using each other's first names and even sitting leaned up against each other in much the same way that Hermione would do with Harry or Ron.

That evening their debates and discussions entered a much more personal territory.

Draco had finished Persuasion.

"You think Elliot is me don't you?" He asked sharply as he entered Hermione's room slamming the door open. Hermione looked up from her perch on the window seat where she was reading Belby's copy of Alice in Wonderland.

"No" she began carefully. "But I do think that the potential is there for you and your housemates to become him."

Draco raised a brow and crossed his arms. "Explain."

"Well," she sighed. "In some way, yes, you already are Sir Walter Elliot, or at least you are being groomed to be. Your housemates and family place all of a person's value on the circumstance of their birth, collectively you are obsessed with the idea that 'pure' blood makes you better than others, but at the same time a family can loose the social standing that comes with being a pureblood, even the so-called 'sacred twenty-eight', simply by having different beliefs about human rights." taking a breath Hermione willed herself to keep her tone non-judgmental. "That's the world you have been raised in, that's what you have been taught to believe, taught to emulate for the last fourteen years. If nothing happens to cause you to challenge that belief structure, then yes, it is very likely that you and your housemates will end up being Sir Walter's and Elizabeth or Mary Elliot's." Draco did not look impressed.

"I take it you've take it upon yourself to be the one who challenges my beliefs then?" he asked scornfully.

Hermione rolled her eyes and put down her book. "Yes actually," she replied pompously, standing so that she was closer to his height. "Someone has to, or at least somebody should."

"Screw you, Granger. What gives you the right to make me your little charity project?"

"Nothing. But I think it would be a damn shame if that's who you grew up to be, and if I don't take the opportunity to challenge you, who knows if you'll ever be challenged. And no, that's not me thinking awfully highly of myself" she continued anticipating his response, "that's me thinking sensibly, seeing an opportunity that exists _now_ , and capitalising on it. You may be presented with a veritable buffet of chances to challenge your beliefs over the next few years, but on the other hand, you may not, and if I said nothing then then the window would close, and neither of us can know if it will ever open again. You can think i'm a meddlesome bint all you want, but one day," she pointed to her chest and dropped her voice an octave " _I'm_ going _bring down_ this blood-purity ridiculousness, and then your perfect world where purebloods are top shit, and muggle-borns are vermin and anyone who aligns with them is a blood traitor will be gone." she warned. "You, right now, have forewarning. Adapt or die Draco. Now kindly please leave. my. room." She added.

Draco shot her his most hostile stare, straight out of the Lucius Malfoy business deal playbook. But Hermione wasn't even looking. She had already returned to the window seat, picked up her book, and was proceeding to ignore his presence. Furious, Draco stormed from the room and went in search of something to hit.

Friday he ignored her. But by dinner he was starting to consider that maybe she was right. He spent the night re-reading Persuasion and considering what she had said.

On Saturday, when he eventually rose it was to find a note stuck to his dresser.

 _If you don't hate me too much. I've devised a game._

 _A way to move forward with our experiment._

 _Hermione._

Draco considered it as he showered and dressed, he considered it while he found some breakfast, noting that it was actually almost lunch time, and he considered it as he walked back, checking first the sitting room and then the library for her presence. Even as he reached the hallway that led to their rooms, he wasn't sure what he wanted, yet he found his feet guiding him towards her door. Just as he was about to knock the door swung open, revealing Hermione on the other side. She was effortlessly pretty in a spaghetti strap, button down black floral sundress with a white babydoll tee underneath it and Sketchers.

"Oh" she said. "I was just going to to go swap my book" she said holding up a copy of a book called Oliver Twist.

"Oh," he echoed, nervously stuffing his hands in his pockets and toeing the carpet with his shoe. "Well, I got your note."

"Ok." she said uncertainty. "Well, do you want to come in?" the underlying vulnerability was plain as day across her face.

He shrugged. "Sure, tell me about this game".

The game was essentially a pile of playing cards, each one containing a question or an action.

"So we mix the cards all together, shuffle them, and then take turns pulling one from the pile." Hermione explained.

"And then we do what's on the card?"

"Yeah, or answer the question."

"Hrm, alright then" he replied all feigned indifference.

Hermione shuffled the cards and held them out to Draco to draw. They were both sitting cross-legged on her bed, but she placed the rest of the pile down on the bedside table.

"They're out of our way there" she said when he raised his eyebrow in silent question. "Go on".

He turned the card over and read the question. "Describe a time when you were unexpectedly turned on"

"Ok" she said tucking her hair behind her ears. "Well... oh, I got turned on by this guy at the park the other week actually. I went for a walk, and it took me past the playground, and there was this guy maybe eighteen, nineteen, with a kid who was maybe two, three. It might have been his kid, might have been a sibling or cousin or something, but he was just so responsive with the little boy. Playing and looking out for him, and really listening... caring." she let out a dramatic sigh "god's it was hot."

Draco looked at her bemeaused.

"What?"

"Nothing." he replied amusedly. "So why do you think that turned you on?"

She shrugged, "I assume it's some sort of evolutionary encoding that makes men who show a desire to care for children more desirable as mates because it increase the chances of your children's survival."

"I have no idea what that means."

She laughed. "Basically, girls dig guys who show fatherly tendencies, because they're more likely to stick around."

"'...Kay…... But, you're fifteen Granger. Isn't it a bit early to be getting clucky?" he questioned clearly a little bit freaked out.

"In our society, of course, and trust me, I've got _no_ intentions of having kids until i'm well established in my career. But biologically speaking, I'm right at the start of my _peak breeding years._ " she explained. "So it's not that surprising that my body reacted that way. For most of human history I'd be married by now and having kids soon. It's just an instinct thing." she added shrugging it off. "Anyway, your turn to answer."

"Right, well" he thought for a minute, before looking at the ceiling. "Oh what the hell" he sighed dropping his head back down, "you already know about it, so I may as well give you the details."

He looked at her seemingly weighing up exactly how much he was going to reveal. "Cassius Warrington."

Hermione kept her face determinedly blank.

"I see other guys naked all the time, it's part and parcel of living at boarding school and playing sports. And normally, nothing. But after Quidditch practice one time I forgot my boots, so I went back to get them. Everyone else had left, except Warrington, he was just getting out of the shower. He had one towel hanging around his neck and another one slung around his hips, sitting really low in a way that showed off this vee shape the older guys have down the front of their pelvis. I could see the trail of hair running down his stomach, and his skin was, well, kind of glistening with the reflection of the candles off the water droplets. And then he saw me, and he just stared at me and his cock twitched. He was bursting out of the towel, and I thought he'd be embarrassed or freak out, but he didn't he just stood there completely calmly, put one leg up on the bench to draw attention to his cock, and kept looking at me as he dried himself off. Smirking"

Hermione bit her lip and took a sudden sharp intake of breath, her eyes rolling back in her head imagining the scene. Draco laughed self-deprecatingly. "Yeah, that was about my reaction too. And then of course I realised that Warrington is a guy, and here I was getting hard just looking at him, and I got freaked out and fled." he finished.

"Why?" Hermione asked

"Because i'm straight!" He replied as if she'd asked the most ridiculous question ever. "i've never been attracted to a guy before. Only girls."

She made a humming noise. "Did you know that contrary to the current panicked homophobia in society, there are plenty of times throughout history where male on male sex has been a normal part of life. Not just something 'gay' men did, but something that almost all men did. At least within certain sub-classes or occupations."

He looked at her disbelievingly

Hermione continued with her rambling explanation. "It was particularly common in military societies, but existed in a range of cultures. In some the women were free to engage in sexual acts with other women as well, in others it was only the men. Sometimes it was something that you did only on military campaign. Sometimes it was just how you had sex in everyday life, with male/female intercourse being reserved for procreation since they had no contraception. And sometimes it only happened as part of a particular rite, during some sort of religious festival, Though that was often more of a group orgy thing, than a just two guys thing. But the point is, that human sexuatlity hasn't always been defined by this very rigid definition of gay or straight." She said matter of factly "There are even therories that bisexualtiy is actually the biological norm for our species, and that humans have either embraced or shunned that side of ourselves based on the societal ideals at the time."

"Gods, you really are a know-it-all aren't you." Draco replied one eyebrow raised.

She pushed his shoulder. "I'm just saying, why get freaked out, just because our society now doesn't let people explore their attraction to the same gender, doesn't mean it's not normal. In fact biologically speaking, our society is the abnormal one."

"Again, you're using all these words I really don't understand. Biologically, evo-loo-shun."

Hermione laughed. "I'll explain another time. My card." she reached over to the pile and collected one. "Do boys really rate the girls at school?"

Malfoy surprisingly rolled his eyes. "Yes" he replied sounding unimpressed.

"You seem like you don't approve…..?" she queried.

"I don't." Draco replied. "I mean sure, check a girl out, even tell your mates you think she's hot, but giving numerical ratings. It's a bit….."

"Like a cattle auction?" Hermione supplied.

Malfoy laughed. "Yeah. And looks are subjective anyway. Just because one guy thinks that Gwendolyn Searbaker is the epitome of a perfect ten, doesn't mean every other bloke thinks the same. But when they're doing it, you feel like you have to agree with what the crowd thinks even if you don't."

"Is there a lot of pressure to be involved then?"

He hummed. "A bit. I can usually distance myself by playing up the Pureblood Aristocracy card, claiming I wouldn't lower myself to even look at anyone _lesser_ , but that only works if they blokes involved are rating Half-bloods and Muggle-borns."

Hermione was slightly taken aback. Sure she'd come to realise that a lot of Malfoy's behaviour at school was a front, but she'd never considered that he might act like a racist, playing up his _expected_ role in order to avoid acting like a chauvinist.

"Have you ever seen a girl naked in real life?"

A loud buzzing noise sounded and Malfoy glared up at her. They were back in the sitting room, playing Operation.

"You ruined my turn woman" he barked.

"Sorry" Hermione replied feigning innocence. "so , have you?"

"No"

"I haven't either, a guy I mean….. Well not the front." she added blushing.

Malfoy arched his eyebrow, placing the plastic scalpel down on the edge of the game and spreading his hands across the table. "Who's back have you seen? Wait, was it Weasley's? Don't tell me if it was Weasleys, I don't want that image." he added holding up one hand and scrunching his face in disgust.

"No it wasn't Ron" Hermione replied rolling her eyes.

"Well then, who was it?"

Hermione looked down at the table, bit her lip and then raised her eyes to his, trying to convey the answer silently.

"Come on, spill!"

 _Crap_

"You" she squeaked quietly, looking quickly away and fidgeting with her hands.

"What?" came the slightly hard edged response.

Nervously Hermione looked back at him, then covered her face with her hands. "Our first night here, I was completely absorbed in my brain and didn't even notice the sound of the shower, and I walked into the bathroom and well, you were there. In the shower." she chanced another glance up at him.

"Oh really? Like what you saw?" he teased.

Hermione could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks.

"Anyway, there's only so much you can really tell from pictures, you know." she continued in her academic voice.

"So you think that should be next on our list then?"

Hermione nodded

"A'right, come on then." Draco replied putting the Operation wand down and standing up, he started to unbutton his shirt.

"Here!? " Hermione squeaked looking around frantically.

Draco rolled his eyes, pulling his wand from his trousers and lazily spelling the door shut, and adding a proximity alert ward.

"Better?" he asked archly.

"Yes, actually. Thanks" she replied slightly thrown. She still wasn't quite used to this considerate Malfoy. And then his shirt came off and he was undoing his belt.

"Come on Granger, catch up." he winked.

She huffed, and stuck her tongue out at him, but started toeing off her shoes and unbuttoning the front of her dress as she did so. When she stood before him in nothing but her underwear she closed her eyes, sucking in a nervous breath.

"Worried?" Draco asked.

She let the breath out, and rolled her eyes. "A little, I know I shouldn't be, it's just skin, but….."

"But it feels kinda vulnerable?"

"Yeah."

He shrugged. "Allright, I'll go first then." he hooked his thumbs into the tops of his boxers, and pushed them down, and Hermione's eyes widened in time with his rapidly rising cock.

"Uh, yeah, sorry, looks like you're not going to get to see it in its usual state. Something about stripping in front of an also mostly naked pretty girl seems to have set it off." Draco joked with a wink, that somehow made him seem effortlessly cool rather than nervous or embarrassed.

Hermione slowly walked towards him, her eyes raking in every detail of his body as she circled it. After two turns she returned to face him. Biting her lower lip nervously, she spoke, "Can I look closer?" she asked nodding down towards his penis.

Draco nodded in reply, and Hermione lowered herself down onto her knees. She just knelt there for a moment looking at him. Observing the trail of white blonde hair, leading to a darker blonde thatch, the way his balls hung beneath him, even erect, the length, width and colour. The veins that ran up his penis and the way his foreskin pulled back off the head.

"You can touch it if you want." Draco choked out, his voice cracking slightly. "You know to help you get a better understanding…. For science."

Hermione looked up at him all wide eyed, and he had to gulp back a groan at how much that made him ache. He was leaking, he could feel it, damn it, this was supposed to just be scientific, but his body was not co-operating.

Granger reached her hands up slowly, placing one on his hip, and lightly tracing a path across his pelvis with the other. Glancing back down she tilted her head sideways, and suddenly her fingers were touching the head of his cock, as she picked up a bead of his pre-cum and held it up to observe.

"Hrrm, it's more liquidy than I expected." she announced. Then with a shrug, she popped her finger into her mouth. "Salty"

"MHGFH!" Draco groaned, causing her to look up at him curiously.

"Nothing" he squeaked.

Granger narrowed her eyes at him, but shook her head and returned to her investigations nonetheless.

She reached her hand back out, and weighed his balls, then rolled them between her fingers.

"Yep, they're as weird as I imagined." she stated baldly.

"Hey!" he replied indignant.

But his ire was quickly lost, as she started to trace one finger, lightly up the length of him.

"The skin is softer than I expected. Kind of…...velvety."

"It feels even softer still when i'm not hard" Draco managed to croak out, his voice cracking slightly.

"I wonder…." She began, and suddenly Draco couldn't think as her hand wrapped around his shaft and her tongue darted out to lick around the head.

 _Oh my God, i'm giving Malfoy a blow job!_ A voice in Hermione's head screamed.

 _This was not in the plan._ A second voice replied.

 _Shut up you!_ The first retorted. _Just go with it. See what happens._

 _I guess we have to learn somehow, after all that's the point of this whole deal right?_

 _HA! Yes, yes it is._ The first preened.

Hermione shrugged and simply continued her exploration.

"You know I never did end up seeing you naked" Draco announced that night. It was after dinner and they were in his room. Hermione was reading, and Draco was flicking through her lists.

"Hrm?" she hummed, looking up from her book.

"Earlier, we were supposed to be doing you show me yours i'll show you mine, and then you went off script." he teased.

Hermione blushed red.

"Oh i'm not complaining. It was a _fantastic_ deviation. But it occurs to me, that I still don't know what a girl looks like naked, and" he stalked towards where she was sitting on the ottoman, eyeing her intently, "i'm really hoping that you'll say yes and let me look at you."

Hermione's breath caught, and she nodded slowly, slightly dazed. "Uh huh"

"Good" he smirked kneeling down in front of her. He removed the book from her hands, placing it out of the way on the floor, and slowly began to unbutton her dress.

Hermione's breath was in her ears, she was spread out, on the ottoman, Draco having slowly, teasingly undressed her down to just her knickers. He looked down at her from his position straddling her legs, shooting her a questioning look.

She nodded slowly, giving him permission to remove her pants, exposing herself to his gaze. _And maybe his fingers and mouth._ The voice piped up.

He slowly inched her underwear down her legs, shimmying them off her then placed her feet back onto the ground, sank down in front of them, and looked her over. When he had satisfied himself with the front view, he placed his hands on her knees.

"Open up?" he asked gently.

Hermione swallowed thickly, and started to part her legs. Draco kept eye contact with her as they inched her legs apart. There was a heady sense of anticipation, mixed with trust, something Hermione would never have expected to find with Malfoy of all people. It created a sense of intimacy that went well beyond the physical. Only when her knees had reached the edge of the ottoman did he lower his gaze, taking in the full sight of her for the first time.

Draco mimicked her earlier actions, simply observing to start with. To be honest he was a bit overwhelmed. There was hair and foldy bits of skin, and he was pretty sure that that, right there was _the_ hole. But he had no idea what any of the rest was for. Did those bits that looked like flappy lips do something? What was the kind of triangular bit at the top for? He was lost. He needed some direction.

"Sooo, uh, Granger?"

Her head quickly popped into his vision as she propped herself up onto her elbows. "Yeah?"

"Uh, you might need to give me one of those biology lessons here."

"Oh!" she seemed to think for a moment "Right, well, can you pass me a pillow then?"

"A pillow" he replied confused.

"Yeah" she nodded expectantly.

"Oookkkayy" he replied standing and grabbing one off the bed. He returned to the ottoman handing it to her.

"You can go back to where you were sitting" Hermione said, stuffing the pillow under her lower back to help prop herself up.

Draco looked at her perplexed, but sank down again.

"Ok well, um. Give me your hand."

He reached his hand out, and she took it in hers, guiding it to touch her mound.

"So this part is the pubic mound, and technically everything you can see is called the vulva, the vagina is actually inside…"

She moved his hand down to touch the pointy triangular thing. "This is the clitoris, remember this one, it's probably the most important" she kept moving his hand, on to the flappy bits. "And these are the Labia, there's an outer set and an inner set, and then this" she pressed the tip of his finger to the hole he'd noted earlier. "Is the entrance of the vagina."

They'd been looking at each other the whole time she directed his hand, and he saw her chest heaving in his peripheral vision.

"Ok, now I have a map, but I still don't know what any of it does, or, well more to the point, what i'm supposed to do with it."

'M"

He coughed looking down, "so ahh. You reckon you could show me?"

He looked back just in time to see her eyebrows fly up her head.

"You want to watch me touch myself?" she squeaked.

"Uh, well, that…. Actually….." he let out a sharp breath. "God's Granger that sounds all kinds of amazing, but I was actually meaning that you could keep showing me what to do with your hand guiding mine."

"Oh" she replied blushing. "Yeah, I guess that would work."

She picked his hand up slowly, hovering it over her mound but not touching anything.

"So how do you like to be touched?" he whispered.

Hermione let out a whimpery groan, and pressed his hand down against her, "like this…."


	5. Part 4

"Do you still consider yourself to be a virgin?" Hermione asked as she dealt out Scrabble tiles on Monday evening.

"Of course." Draco replied, scooping up his tiles and arranging them on the rack.

"Hmm" Hermione replied, her slightly huffy tone suggesting that she was dissatisfied with his answer, and leaving him thoroughly confused.

"Ummm don't you?" He ventured.

She sighed. Rearranging her tiles and thinking.

"Yesterday I would have said yes. Today, i'm not so sure."

"What happened today?" Draco replied as he lay down his first word.

"I had a conversation with Kate that, as the saying goes, blew my mind. And now I have no idea how to answer that question."

Draco shrugged, "seems pretty straightforward to me, when you have sex, actual penis in vagina sex, then you're not a virgin."

"Yeah, see that's the thing. " Hermione countered laying down her word. "Is that really an accurate measure?" she looked up from the board, seeking out his eyes. "I'll ask you what Kate asked me, how do lesbians lose their virginity?" she deadpanned.

"When they…" he hesitated, "huh. Yeah. I guess I never thought of that before."

"Exactly," Hermione exclaimed. "Our system of defining virginity is dependent upon penetration with a penis. Kate called it _heteronormativity_. But when we strip that lense away we are left with a conundrum. Either lesbians are always virgins no matter how many sexual encounters they have had, or virginity has nothing to do with penetrative sex."

Draco stared blinkingly at her, then shook his head and tried to concentrate on forming a word with the letters in front of him. When he eventually laid his tiles on the board he turned his attention back to the dilemma of semantics.

"So what would be a better definition then?"

To his surprise Hermione's face fell, "I don't know!" she snapped, distressed. "There has to be an answer, everything has an answer, but i've been mulling it over for hours and I can't figure it out!" She was pulling at her curls and her eyes held a slight wildness and anxiety.

Draco looked at her in shock. Then holding up one hand he spoke. "Are you distressed because you never considered that what we are doing would have any impact on your virginity, and now you feel it has, or are you distressed because you don't know the answer to this puzzle?" he asked evenly.

"That I don't know the answer." she replied in a small voice, her head dropping.

"Oh Hermione" he sighed, pushing back his chair and scooting around the table. He pulled her up from her own chair and wrapped her in his arms. "You don't always have to have the answer to everything." He whispered stroking her hair.

She sagged against him, beginning to cry, letting him in, letting him see her insecurities and the vulnerability behind her need to always know the answers. And in that moment, Draco couldn't deny his feelings any longer. This was no longer just a temporary truce for him. Nor was it simply friends engaging in an experiment. He was in far deeper than that. The only question was whether Hermione felt the same.


	6. Part 5

At breakfast on Wednesday Mr Belby announced that he was going to a Ministry function the following night and that Draco and Hermione would be on their own for dinner.

"It is possible to get Muggle pizza delivered here if you want to, or you can cook or the elves will cook for you as usual. Just let them know what you would like to do" Belby told them.

By lunchtime Draco had come up with a plan, a plan for dinner, and a plan to suss out Hermione's feelings.

"I'll organise dinner tomorrow" he told Hermione.

When Hermione entered her bedroom after their internship on Thursday afternoon there was a note on her bed.

 _Granger,_

 _That purple dress of yours deserves more than one wear, and since you are unlikely to get to wear it again once we get back to school, I've arranged an excuse. Meet me in the foyer at 7. Wear the dress._

 _DM_

Draco was staring again. He knew he was staring, but, dammit he just couldn't stop. She was stunning, her hair in loose curls this time, pinned back on one side with that white flower.

She was waving her hand in front of his face

.

"Malfoy, earth to Malfoy"

"What, oh. Sorry, zoned out." He replied recovering himself

She laughed, and the sound made his heart skip.

"Right, dinner." He said blinking. He held his arm out the way he'd been trained to escort a lady. "To the garden".

The garden was spectacular, a trail of fairy lights guiding them to a courtyard setting. The courtyard glittered with the flickering of fairies, flitting in and out of the hedges and the wrought iron of the gazebo at the far end. In front of the gazebo was a small white iron table set for two, complete with ice bucket stand. Soft classical music filled the air. Hermione gasped, turning to look at Malfoy in wonder.

"This, this…." she sighed in an almost orgasmic way, "it's beautiful." she finished. Spinning to face him her voice took on an incredulous tone "What on earth made you decide to do this?" she queried eyes wide.

Malfoy shrugged. "I know it's not on your list, but every woman deserves to know what it's like to go on a real date. And since I figure you're probably going to end up married to Wesley or Longbottom or something" he said with a roll of his eyes "and neither of them have _any_ clue, I figured _I_ needed to add it to your list."

She shook her head at him, but couldn't quite suppress the amused smile, "You're such a prat" she said batting his arm playfully "and why on _earth_ would you think i'm going to marry Ron?" she added disturbed.

"Umm, everyone thinks that. Trust me." he laughed darkly. She scoffed.

"So, dinner m'lady?".

Hermione smiled enchantingly and nodded, "yes."

The food was heavenly. French dishes full of buttery sauces, flaky pastries, and cheese paired with Elf wine, all of which appeared and disappeared magically. She and Draco spoke on a variety of topics, from their appreciation of the food, to literature, politics and travel. The Malfoy's, she learned had multiple properties in France, as his family had originally been entirely french, and although his branch had arrived in England with the Norman army, there were other branches of the family who still lived in France. Thus much of Draco's childhood had been spent in France, and he felt just as at home there as he did in Wiltshire. There were also properties scattered across the world. Some large, imposing manors and castles, others "cottages". Though, Hermione began to suspect that Draco's definition of a cottage was slightly skewed as he described a six bedroom "hunting cottage" in the middle-of-nowhere Canada.

When at Hogwarts, Draco was often seen to be bragging about his family's wealth and status, but now, just the two of them Hermione could see that he simply had no real concept of how irregular his life was. There was no sense of bravado in his descriptions of his family's properties, they just were. That in itself, however said a lot as to how he had gotten to fourteen years old without ever having any concept of life in the real world. The fact that Slytherin was full of other sycophantic sheltered aristocats didn't help of course, _but then Eaton creates the same sort of bubble,_ Hermione mused. The last few weeks had opened Draco's eyes and started to shift his opinions on Muggle-borns, Hermione was sure. Things would be different at Hogwarts this year, right? As she scooped up the last of her desert, Hermione summoned her Gryffindor bravery and asked the question that was plaguing her.

"Will you still talk to me when we go back to school?" Hermione asked seemingly out of nowhere at the end of desert.

Draco, his spoon already in his mouth, swallowed his bite, and placed his spoon back down on the linen tablecloth and looked into her eyes before answering.

"I know we said that this was just a temporary truce and we never had to speak again once we went back to school….." he replied carefully "but, honestly, I can't see us going back to how things were before. Too much has changed." he finished seriously.

He watched her carefully, looking for subtle changes in her body language in order to determine her true reaction. A lowering of the shoulders, slight lift of the head, breathing deeply. She was happy. A good sign. But the cogs in her brain were whirring, and she was tensing up again.

"What about your friends?" she implored, "And my friends" she added with a dejected sigh.

Draco thought for a moment. Sighing, he spoke, "I'll admit that my friends don't even know you're here."

"Neither do mine" Hermione admitted, playing with her spoon.

"I guess we'll just have to tell them that we were both at this course. And we formed a truce." Draco suggested.

Hermione thought for a minute, placing the spoon back on the table just as their plates disappeared. "Harry and Ron won't like it, but at the end of the day they'll respect it. Even if they have to convince themselves that they're only 'letting me' be friends with you so they can spy on you" She replied rolling her eyes. "But, will the Slytherins accept it, you being friendly with a mudblood?"

A look of pain washed over Draco's face. He shook his head slightly, feeling lost, stuck. Then, reaching across the table he picked up Hermione's hand, which was resting in the space where her desert plate had been. "I want to say I don't care anymore. And to an extent, I don't…..but, I know how hard they will make my life for the next four years." He shook his head ruefully.

"I have to live with them Hermione, share a room, all my classes, meals, Quidditch. As much as i've come to value you and your friendship, I don't think I can cope with spending four years with only you for a friend. And that is what will happen if we just continue like we've been here."

Hermione smiled sadly, rubbing her thumb in circles on the back of his hand.

"Then why don't we give them, _all_ of them, time to get used to it. We tell them that we were both here, and we claim that we are continuing our research to enter some sort of competition or Potions Journal. Belby entered us, and it's too good an opportunity career wise to throw away just because we don't like each other. So we have to study together. That will give them time to adjust to seeing us together. We keep it to just studying in the library at first, then perhaps speaking about the work in other classes. Or acknowledging each other in the halls. Acquaintances. And after Christmas Break we slowly work our way up to friends."

Draco sighed. "That makes sense. And it will probably work. But….." he trailed off pink staining his cheeks.

"You've kind of gotten used to my company?" Hermione ventured.

There was an air of hope in her voice that encouraged Draco to summon his inner fortitude. Letting go of Hermione's hand he pushed his chair back and stood, quickly walking around to the other side of the table. He held out his right hand in invitation. "Dance with me?" he asked.

With a surprised laugh, Hermione accepted his hand and he guided her to the empty section of the courtyard. Unseen to them Squeakle used elf magic to command the instruments to play a waltz.

"I don't really know how to do this" Hermione protested as Draco placed his arms in the ballroom frame.

"Well I'll just have to teach you" He replied.

He dropped his frame and instead placed Hermione's hands for her, before resuming his position, then, pulling her slightly closer than was actually necessary, he bent his head to her ear and whispered.

"Just close your eyes and feel. Let the music and the feeling take over, and I'll do all the work." he felt her head nod next to his, and reluctantly returned is own upright, the smell of her shampoo lingering as he did so, and began to lead her in the Waltz.

She was, thankfully naturally musical and graceful enough that his ploy worked, and Hermione relaxed into his hold letting the atmosphere wash over her, as she instinctively followed his steps. After a few minutes, of watching the emotions play over her face, Draco spoke. "You've got it now, you can open your eyes if you don't think it will distract you."

She did, and Draco found himself staring into pools of Firewhisky as they continued to twirl around the courtyard. When the music ended, the pair were oblivious, continuing to waltz to the music in their heads. Eventually Draco realized and slowed them to a sway.

"Oh the music's finished" Hermione blinked.

"It has"

They were still staring and swaying. Draco swallowed thickly, then summoned his courage and asked the question that had been on his mind for days.

"Hermione, can I kiss you?" He whispered.

He could feel her breath hitch, pressed up against him as she was, and saw her eyes widen, then she nodded slowly. Draco smiled, his heart felt like fireworks were exploding inside it. He slowly trailed one hand up to cup the back of her head, as he lowered his lips to hers. 

As Draco entered his room, he summoned a small vial. placing the tip of his wand to his temple he slowly drew it away, taking a stream of silvery thoughts with it. He directed the substance into the vial, stoppered it and walked over to his trunk. Kneeling he opened the lid and ran his wand along the back wall, a small drawer appeared inside which was a lockable box his mother had given him. The box was attuned to a witch or wizard's magical signature, thus it could only be opened by the owner, opening the catches on the lid he placed the vial inside, re shut the lid and replaced it in the draw. _I'll have to get a copy of those photos from Squekle_ he thought. Shutting the draw and the trunk he kicked off his shoes, and flopped onto the bed. The last thing he saw as he drifted off to sleep was a shy, smiling Hermione Granger tucking her hair behind her ear as she looked up at him adoringly. Tomorrow promised to be a good day.

As Hermione drifted off to sleep, smiling happily, a thought broke through her bubble of contentedness. They had never come to a final agreement about school, and now, well now, if she wasn't mistaken, everything was different. _You can discuss it in the morning._ Her inner voice argued, _just go to sleep so we can keep replaying tonight_. In the morning, Hermione agreed. Tomorrow, everything would be different.


	7. Ending 1

"I said _come_ , Draco, now." the furious voice of Lucius Malfoy rang out from the foyer.

 _What's he doing here?_ Hermione wondered as she walked towards the main staircase. She could hear Draco shouting now.

"No." he seethed petulantly. "I _want_ to stay."

Hermione quickened her descent down the stairs and strained her ears, barely managing to catch what Lucius said next.

The elder Malfoy's voice lowered dangerously, "I don't give a _shit_ what you want, _boy._ We are leaving, clearly this program is _not_ what it was made out to be, and I will not have you spend another second with that Mudblood and these blood-traitors." he hissed.

As Hermione rounded the corner of the hall reaching the top of the staircase she could see that Lucius had a vicious looking hold on Draco's upper arm, and that her classmate's trunk was at his feet.

" _Why_ you didn't tell me that a Mudblood was accepted, I will never understand." he continued, literally dragging Draco towards the door.

"What difference does it make?" Draco cried wincing at the pressure of his father's grip. "I share classes with her at school."

The sound of the slap echoed off the foyer walls, and Hermione gasped. Draco's eyes met hers, frantic. Clearly seeing her indignation building, he shook his head almost imperceptibly begging her not to intervene. But Hermione wasn't having it.

"Talking about me?" she called, announcing her presence.

As the elder Malfoy turned dropping Draco's arm she leveled him with a withering look.

"You know, I just really do not understand this whole 'purebloods are the cream of society' ideology" she continued as she waltzed down the stairs. "If the _best_ of society has to resort to threatening and _hitting_ children in order to maintain their control, then it strikes me that the wizarding world is entirely….Fucked. Up." she had reached the foyer now and stood only a few inches from Lucius, staring up at him, seething. "Say what you want about my parents and their inferiority, but they would never _hit_ a child." She added contempt dripping from her voice.

Suddenly a wand was pressed up against underneath her jaw.

"Mmm, point proven I think." she said with a sardonic smirk. "The oh so powerful Lucius Malfoy, holding an unarmed teenager at wand point because he didn't like what she had to say. _Pathetic_ " she decried.

Her hair was starting to frizz, the ends almost sparking with the energy of her righteous condemnation. Calmly, she reached up, moved the wand away from her throat, and turned on her heel.

"Pleasure as always, Mr Malfoy" she finished flippantly, before sweeping out of the room.

Only when she was safely out of sight and earshot did she allow her panic to escape. Challenging a suspected Death Eater without her wand, was not perhaps the best pre-breakfast plan. As the adrenaline coursing through her veins started to wane, she felt the crash coming. Shaking and stifled for breath she sank to the floor hugging her knees and let the tears fall, shedding the cortisol spike racing through her with every drop.

She didn't see Draco watch her leave with a look of longing as his Father pressed him into the crush of side-along apparition.

August 25 1993.

Draco stifled a groan as he entered the top box of the Quidditch stadium. Sure she'd told him she was going to the cup with Wesley, but he'd been sure he'd be safe from running into her here in the top box. How on earth did the Weasley family come to be sitting here anyway? Now he was going to be stuck in her presence for the next few hours with his father watching his every move. Speaking of his father, he'd noticed Hermione too. She was slightly pink, but Draco was pleased to see that she held her own staring right back at him defiantly. His pride faltered though as Lucius began to mutter under his breath

"That uppity little mudblood bitch is going to regret crossing me by the time the night is over. There are plans for her kind tonight."

 _Shiiit_! The voice in Draco's head screamed, realising just what his father was alluding too _You have to warn her._ But how, when his father would never let him talk to her?

Hermione stumbled back to her bunk in the tent with tears in her eyes. This night had gone so horribly wrong. She was scared, but above all she was confused. Draco had ignored her all game, only to follow them in the panic. Yes they had always agreed that their agreement ended when the summer program ended, but that last night he'd been there… she'd thought that things had been changing between them, that they were too far gone in their ….friendship to really go back to how things had always been. He'd even said as much, and then he'd kidded her. But they had never gotten to have that discussion, to decide once and for all what they were going to do once the program finished, once they went back to school. His father had put a stop to that, and now it seemed Draco had decided for them.

Sure he'd warned her in the forest, but the way he'd done it.

They'd been basically alone. Only Harry and Ron were there. He could have actually talked to her. He could have taken her hands in his and said "You have to get out of here Hermione. They're looking for muggleborns, and you can bet my father's looking for you specifically after what you said at Belby's. Please, go, be safe" and kissed her.

She let out a sob, muffling it with her pillow as she played out that scene in her head. Draco concerned and imploring and gentle. Instead he'd been back to his old snarky self, she didn't understand.

As a fitful sleep overtook her, Draco was back in his room at Malfoy Manor, scribbling out a note and attaching it to his owl.

"Just drop it where she'll get it, and then come straight back." he instructed sadly.

The note was un-signed, but she knew his handwriting now. It had been next to her head on the pillow when she awoke, and it read simply. "I'm sorry. It has to be this way."


	8. Ending 2

"Draco, Quickly son. We have to go, now is not the time for argument." Lucius commanded as he woke Draco from what had been a very pleasant dream.

"Wha? Father? What are you doing here?" Draco blinked clearing his focus. His belongings were zooming through the air packing themselves into his trunk and it seemed to be the middle of the night.

"We are leaving Draco." His father repeated "it's time".

"What do you mean time? What's going on?" His sluggish brain struggled to find context to make sense of his father's words. suddenly something pinged. "Oh shit" he breathed sitting up.

"I take it you have caught up, then?" His father drawled.

"Where's mother?" He asked suddenly frantic and scrambling to dress.

"Readying the Thestrals" Lucius replied, "we shall meet her there. Now come." He shoved a robe at Draco, and levitated the trunk. Draco started to follow, when his brain pinged again.

"Wait!" He called.

"What?" His father hissed.

Brain running overtime Draco supplied the excuse "I really need the bathroom"

His father let out a pained sigh, "Well hurry." He hissed through gritted teeth.

Draco raced to the bathroom, but he didn't stop, instead he yanked open the door on the opposite side and tumbled into Hermione's room. He looked around desperately, searching for parchment and a quill. Spotting her diary and a muggle pen on her dressing table he grabbed them up only to drop the book again as it burned his fingertips. _Fuck_ , it was warded. Resuming his frantic search he noticed the waste paper basket.

"Aha" he crowed triumphant, as he pulled out an envelope. Turning it over he scribbled out a hasty note and stuck it to the mirror. Sucking in a deep breath he then made his way over to the bed. Taking a moment to simply look at her and commit her features to memory, he slowly leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. "I'll miss you Granger." He murmured. "Please be safe." And with that he turned and walked quickly away.

Hermione dropped the note and dashed through the bathroom into the adjoining room. "Draco!" She called frantically, but as soon as she opened her door she knew it was too late, he was gone. The room was empty. She might never see him again, and that wasn't even the worst part. There were plans afoot to resurrect Voldemort.


End file.
